Toledo Conference: 1976
Table of Contents
Food
Address—P.L. Johnson
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General Meeting, Toledo, November 1976.
Addressed by Paul Johnson.
So we're seeing hymn #303.
When Israel by divine command, the pathless desert card.
They found throughout the barren land a surely source in God Hymn #303.
When this is all about.
Give all.
The.
Way.
Of joy and soul.
Want to read first of all in Genesis chapter one.
Verse 11.
And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the earth yielding food, and the fruit seed yielding fruit, after his kind to seed is in itself upon the earth. And it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree building fruit, whose seed was in itself after his time. And God saw that it was good.
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Now verse 29.
And God says, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seeds, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every sea in the which is the fruit of the sea. Yielding seed to you, it shall be for me.
And Mark Gospel chapter 5.
Mark 5 and verse 38.
Can you come up to the House of the ruler of the synagogue and see if humor? And then that wept and wailed greatly.
And when he was gone in, he stepped into them. Finally you get to do in weeks. The damsel is not dead, but sleeping.
Last in the storm that when he had put them all out, he figured the father and the mother of the damsel and them that were with him, and entered in where the damsel was lying.
And he took the damsel by the hand.
And said unto her Caliper Kumar, which is being interpreted damsel, I say unto the arrives.
And straightly the damsel arose and walked, For she was of the age of 12 years, and they were astonished with a great astonishing and he charged them straightly, that no man should know it, and commanded that something should be given her to eat.
First Cedar, Chapter 2.
First Peter two and verse one.
Therefore laying aside all malice and all Guild is hypocritical and envies and evil speaking.
As we gone, they desire to send to the milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if so be your patience, that the Lord is gracious.
And Revelation Chapter 10.
And verse one.
And I saw another mighty Angel come down from heaven closed with a cloud and a rainbow with upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his team as pillars of fire. And he had in his hand a little book open, and he said his right foot upon the sea.
And his left foot on the earth.
And verse, Hernan, a lot of verse 8 And the voice which I heard from heaven, take unto me again, and said, Go, and take the little book which is open in the hand of the Angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth. And I went under the Angel, and said unto him.
Give me the little book.
And he said unto me, Take it and eat it up, and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in my mouth sweet of honey. And I took the little book out of the angels hand, and ate it up and within my mouth. Sweetie, honey.
And as soon as I'd eaten in my belly was bitter. And he said, underneath thou must confess again before many people and tongues.
Many peoples and nations, and tongues and kings.
Perhaps you notice some connection in these portions that we read in regard to the subject of eating, or we might say, the subject of food.
This is what I had for my heart to bring before all of us. That especially keeping in mind those.
Young in years and, as mentioned in the prayer, perhaps young in faith too.
So we will address our remarks peacefully and primarily to those that we term as young people and yet I'm sure that.
What the Lord would bring before us.
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Would be something for each and everyone of us to consider and would be ministry and food for our souls, but I was thinking especially of the young people we hear, it said frequently.
That young people today are facing great difficulties in this world.
And I've heard it said, and perhaps it's partially true, that they face many things that those who are older did not face when they were young. And yet it is the same world, and the principles that have been operative in this world, are operative in this world now, have been so far many years. But I have no doubt that what the pressure, you might say, of the world and the Prince of this world, who is behind it all, Satan.
It is increasing.
It seems as if the world is getting more dominant.
And is pressing in more and more on the people of God, and especially seeking to capture the young people.
And I would like to remind you first of all that when we speak of the world as it is about us in this country.
We really are Speaking of apostate Christendom, and what we're seeing on every hand now is Christendom becoming taking that road toward Apostrophe. The mystery of iniquity is already working so that there is a return to even morality, even though there is still some outward connection with Christianity. The world, as far as we're concerned, generally in this part of the world.
Is the Christianized world, so to speak, Christendom. And it is the the terrible things that are going on and the things that young people encounter in faith in this world is really the result of the giving up of the truth of God, the giving up of the word of God, giving up of the fundamentals of the faith, and a return to the ways of the heathen and heathen morality. And so it is important for young persons.
To be able to.
Stand in such an evil day.
Needs to be strengthened, and that was my thought in connection with food. So we all know that in a human way, that if we do not eat properly, if we're not taking in food regularly, we find that our bodies become weak. And so it is in a spiritual way. It is necessary that young Christians have the proper food. Not only that they have food, but they have the proper food.
And God thought is that you might be built up in your spiritual constitution in such a way that you can pass through this scene. For the little while that remains to us for the glory of God, we have had two addresses already to.
Young people and no doubt God has spoken in those addresses.
And I trust that it has. The word has stirred up the heart.
Of many of the young people who desire to wholly follow the Lord, as we were reminded of one of all He did, and then to be in separation from this present evil world, I have no doubt but what the desire of those who have given the attractive would be.
This would be true that there would be an exercise. Well my thought is to pick up that the fact they're seeking to to follow the Lord holy.
And to bring before us the fact that we need to be properly fed, that we need food in order that our spiritual constitution might be strong, so that we can follow the Lord. For we are in an enemy land, and we are in a scene that is departed from God and under Satan's power. And you know that everything about us is contrary to what we find in this practice book.
The thought of food is a primary thought with God. That is, it's a fault that illusionated with God is he read in Genesis 1.
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There's some things that we find in Scripture that God takes up and uses that he did not necessarily initiate.
As we had brought before us, the one who built the first city was a murderous team.
In my favorite cities is not are not the primary thought of God. Now God takes it up and he's going to have a city.
But the thought of a city really begins with man. But food is a primary thought of God. God originated. The thought of food is the read in Genesis chapter one, and I'd like to go through these portions that we read briefly touching upon them. You'll turn back to Genesis 1.
And pray through them the thoughts of food.
As being God.
Resource for his people.
I'm going to take up the salt of food in three ways.
Food is that which sustains that life that we have from God, our spiritual life.
Spiritual food, of course we're talking about.
And then food for growth.
Food that enables us to grow in a spherical way.
And then food.
That would provide us drinks for the testimony which we farm apart.
In Genesis One we have the primary thought of God in regard to man, that he would provide food for him. Of course we know that here it's Speaking of food in a material way, but I want to apply it in the thought of spiritual food and notice the principle of food that is brought out.
In verses 10, verses 11 and 12 of chapter one.
Think about the herb yielding food.
And the fruit tree yielding fruit.
As was brought out in our readings, the Father of Light is in the seed. Here it's the thought of life. So God would food that comes from God is that which produces life.
And again, we're quickly, I will remind you, we're speaking about spiritual food.
And when we I'd like to say this before I go on, When I think about food, we're thinking of that which we take into our beings. Just as we eat physical food, we assimilate it, we take it in. I'm sleeping now in regard to those things that we assimilate that will affect us spiritually and morally.
And So what God would provide would be that which produces life.
Language is error that which is not according to God.
Anything that is contrary to the mind of God, anything that is in error, brings in death.
Only that which is true.
That which is truth itself brings in life.
And I think that's an important principle. Sometimes we are inclined to feel that while certain things have become in contact with or we associate with or that we read.
But it only has a little bit of error in it. It has some things in it that's good. But there are there are some things that are that are in error that are wrong. Well, that's not the principle of life. Error is the principle of death.
You remember one time when Elijah comes to Gilgal and there was a dirt in the land and he said that they were to set on the great pots and trees potted.
For those sons of the prophet, there was one who went out and gathered a wild gore, and he traded them into that park, and as they began to eat, 1 cried out. There is death in the pot.
What? Everything in that pot was not wrong, but when those wild doors were brought in, it brought in death. And so the principle that food from God is that it has life in it, and another is that it yields fruit after this time.
It produces fruit.
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According to the principle that God intended in the food that He did. In other words, it's it's orderly. I'm reminded of something the contrary to this that might help us to understand what is intended by bearing fruit after his time.
That is in 1913 when we read about that mustard seed that was thrown into the ground.
And though it was the smallest of seeds, it became a great tree. It grew out of all proportions. You might say it did not really yield after its proper time. It grew up to be a great tree, which was never intended to be, and became a haven for the.
Birds of the air, the truth of the evil from Satan himself. Well, the principle of food is what I had before me here in Genesis 1, which was given to man, that has the principle of life in it and order in it, It yields fruit after their time. Now turn over to mark.
By much gospel that personally read, I want to apply that to the the beginning.
Of life for the believer and, as I say, especially applying to young believers.
So what we have to say here this afternoon applies to those who are the Lord. You have life.
We know that those who have.
Not believed on the Lord Jesus product, or spoken of as in a thieves and through as being dead, in trespasses and in sin.
And I'd be alive physically, but they're dead in trespasses and sins. We're speaking to those this afternoon who have life. You have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you have life. You're born again. You have the Spirit of God.
The spirit of life within Well, that's the thought in connection with Mark Six, with this damsel.
And as we take this up.
We don't want to limit our view here to those.
Who are of the sex of this girl here? We're not just talking about girls or little girls. We want to apply this to each and every one of us who have received life from God. We've been brought into life out of death.
Just like this damsel in verse 43 The Lord.
Commanded at the end of the verse that something should be given her to. Oh how important, when one has been brought to the Lord that something be given them to eat.
That life needs to be sustained and built up, God thought is that the the spiritual constitution of the believer should be built up with food. Something was commanding. It was commanded to give her something to eat.
And I would say, dear young believer, that this is one of the most important principles at the very beginning of your Christian experience that you.
Have something for your soul to feed upon from God in order that you might be built up in order that you might be strengthened.
To go through this world for the glory of God.
Just recently.
In speaking.
Is that some of the large people?
To whom I was saying something was said about young persons being confused and having a lot of difficulties and things of that nature, and I'm sure that it's true and I wonder sometimes if it's not because there is a neglect of truth.
That is the proper food. I wonder if it is not because.
We're feeding on the wrong things and we're not getting the food that will build us up.
And will strengthen us, the Lord saw. Here is the food that we should be given to. This one would be the proper type of food that would sustain her.
We know that we're on the way to the glory, but we're not there yet and we need to be sustained in this wilderness.
Until we need the proper food.
Just for a moment, I'd like to turn back the two portions in the Old Testament that brings before us something as to proper and improper food. I'm not going into detail upon it. Turn back to Deuteronomy chapter 14 and I would suggest that this might be a portion of medication.
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On the part of young persons in connection with the thought of food.
In Deuteronomy 14.
The Lord says, Here ye are the children of the Lord your God.
It's the relationship to him.
Now he says to them in verse 3.
Thou shalt not eat any abominable things.
These are the beasts which you shall eat. And then we have several of them lifted, The off seat, the goats, the hearts, the roebucks and solid ears. As I say, it wasn't my fault to go into detail in this chapter, as interesting as it might be to trace out what these animals would speak of in connection with the person of the Lord Jesus, because I believe the power here is this in Deuteronomy 14.
We have here the proper food that belongs to the Lord people.
Those who are sons before God for his pleasure.
The instances here in Deuteronomy is not so much upon that which we shouldn't be, as it emphasized, mostly that which we are to eat, that which is clean. And I have no doubt that these animals all speak of the person of the Lord Jesus in various aspects.
We can think of what the Oxford referred to in the Keys and the Goats, and we know that these are used physically in the Old Testament of the Lord Jesus Christ and his his walk, his ways, his sufferings, his death.
This is the proper food for the believer. This is the food that we're to be occupied with, the person of the Lord Jesus Christ found in this precious book.
And I would say that when we read the word of God, and I prefer to call this the Word of God rather than the Bible, it is the Bible And I I don't want to make it a person offender for a word.
And I like to refer to it as the word of God, because then it reminds us.
That when we're reading it, we're not just leaving a book.
But we are actually hearing the voice of God. And not only that, but it is that which brings before us the person of the Lord Jesus Christ from cover to cover.
We want to see the Lord Jesus.
And we want to see how that everything in the Word of God is connected with him and his glory in some way, for I believe it is.
I don't say that everything is typical of him, but it is all associated with himself and his glory.
And this is our proper food, not to take it up in an intellectual way, but to take it up as that which will feed our souls upon the person of the Lord Jesus Christ and all of his interest.
Because, you know, if we're really occupied with the Lord Jesus.
We will find that his interests are our interests.
And it's in this precious book that we learn what his interests are. We'll now turn back to Leviticus Chapter 11.
And in Leviticus 11, we have a sort of a negative approach to food. And Deuteronomy 14, it's more of a positive side of what we ought to eat.
But in Deuteronomy 11, or rather Leviticus 11, we have a negative side deeply. We do have that which we can eat, but the implicit seems to be upon that which is to be avoided.
The Lord said unto Moses, and to Aaron.
Even the way it's introduced is a little different.
It's in connection here with Moses and Aaron, and they were to speak to the children of Israel.
And he says what they are to eat in verses 2:00 and 3:00.
Then he says in verse 4.
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Nevertheless we shall do not eat of them, that to the cut of them that divide the hoof is the camel, and so forth, and the verses that follow he speaks about the animals that are to be avoided. And there are two things connected with these unclean boots.
Two things that mark them as being unclean and unsuitable food.
If they did not part the hook, or if they did not see the cut, that is, they had to do both parts, the hook and to the Truck 9 to the Mini this afternoon. This is not a new fault, but I emphasize it because I think it's important.
That whatever we take in.
And, you know, perhaps we take in more than we realize.
What is Roundabout? We come into contact with the writings of this world and it's periodical.
In its newspapers.
And things of that nature. I'm not recommending you eating of them.
We know that these things are found among the Lord's people, and we know that we come into contact and we see them from time to time, and perhaps there are those who read these things regularly.
Well, I think this principle that we have here would apply to these things. The parting of the hook would refer to separation.
The taking in of these things, does it result in your being more separate from the world?
In your thoughts and in your ways and in your desires are there's the assimilating of these things round about these things that influence us moral and spiritually does it quicken our interest in world is in.
That's the thought, I believe, of the parting of the hook.
If it does not lead to separation from the world, we can take improper food and then the chewing of the cup, well, no doubt that has reference to the meditating upon the word of God. That is, it's not reading the word of God just as a book and intellectually, but it's meditating and taking in that which we read from God.
These two elements and I would like to apply this thought to in regards.
To writings that are round about it. Our brother yesterday spoke of courageous people.
The story of Book. And he said the Princess could hardly keep up with the demand. And that's true.
And that's true in regards to so-called Christian books.
They find that there is a great mass of Christian literature so-called.
And.
This is a test we can bring to that. Does the reading of those books produce in us a true separation from the world? Does it part the hook, and does it really lead us into meditation?
Of the word of God in such a way that our souls are fed. I find that many of these books that I have looked at just in a passing way that they're more entertaining than resulting in causing one to be more separate from the world and producing real meditation that will bring one into a a greater apprehension of the mind of God. Many are read just for entertainment.
Well, now I'm not going all the way through this capture. I recommend it to young Christians to read and to find out for yourself what these things speak out.
But I would like to refer to the 50 that are brought before us in verse 9.
Because there are these failure of all that are in the water, whatsoever hath sins and stairs.
And verse 10 and all that have not sinned in scales in the seas and the rivers of all that move in the water, there could be avoided sins and fear again. I'm sure this is not new, as perhaps it's been taken up in the presence of many in this room before.
So I know that the.
That which enables her want to go against the current.
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The fins involving the movement of the fish through the water rather than being carried along with the current it is.
Was one to go contrary to the term? Well, you know, the current in this world.
And the fashion of this world does change. I know when I say fashion, I'm not talking about this dress.
Although that's involved, but the fashion of this world seems it's eventually going to pass away.
And it does change. And the current, you might say that that operate in this world vary from time to time. And I was thinking of this especially in regard to young people today, perhaps the current.
That are strongly swirling about it. The young people today were not so much prevalent in days past.
That are really morally degrading.
Parents that run counter to even the basic principles of God dealings with man in this world. I'm referring, for instance, to Mary.
The home I'm referring to the very distinction of the section in the beginning. He made them male and female, their parents all around that are seeking to destroy these very elementary principles of God, established of God many years ago and thrill.
Are valid in Christianity.
Well.
The thing would enable young believers, if they're getting the proper food from God from this precious book. And the food is provided here. As Jeremiah said, thy word was found and I did eat it in the word. And if you're feeling on the word of God.
And in the spirit of submission to the Spirit of God, and being part of God from this world, from this precious book.
The proof of God would give you sins, as it were, to go contrary to these curves.
Rather than being swept along with them.
And I do believe that there are many young people that are being more affected by these currents and perhaps they themselves realize.
And I think we need all to take, stop and say, how far have I, how far have I been affected, how much have I been affected by these currents that are about us today?
My ideas about marriage. My ideas about the home. My ideas about, well, even dress that belongs.
Men dress that belongs to the women. How much are my ideas affected by what is current in the world? What is found in the writings of men, roundabouts, and what is even perhaps alluded to is maybe not formally thought in a lot of Christian literature, so-called Christian literature. How much am I affected by this? Or do I derive my thoughts from this book? If you derive them from this book you will be able to go against all of these terms.
And the sales? We know that which you might say, insulate the faith from the element roundabout. And if we are feeding upon the Lord Jesus, the proper food that we have in Deuteronomy 14 and we are being built up constitutionally.
By meditating on this precious book and learning from God through it will have not only the sins to go against the current, but we will be insulated against these these influences. The very atmosphere that's all about it. The atmosphere that's all about it. Well, this is.
In Leviticus 11 we have that which is to be avoided, that is, that which does not lead us against the current of this world.
That which does not insulate us against the environment round about. If it's that kind of food, leave it alone.
It's an abomination.
But here to be occupied with the food that God provides, which will give us the fins and the state. Now turn over the first Peter, Chapter 2.
This perhaps is not such a clear cut distinction from what we've been thinking about, somewhat connected with it the fault of growth through the truth.
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In verse two, we leave here as newborn babes.
Desire the sincere milk of the word, that you may grow thereby.
Well, often this is used in connection with young believers as spoken of as being bathed in Christ.
And I wouldn't quarrel with that all together, but I do think that the proper meaning here is not to be so limited.
You may be young in years and yet have been a believer for a number of years.
You've had life for a number of years, as there many in the room here who have been believers for many years. But this is a verse for each and every one of us.
That we're to be always in this sense, as newborn be, that is, as a newborn babe, as a desire for milk. So we are to have a desire for the word of God. We'd have an appetite for the word of God.
And we're not to lose that appetite.
Even one who has been going on with the Lord for years and has been reading the word of God and meditating on the word of God fifty 60-70 years.
Could be as a newborn baby desiring.
The center amount of the Word. And here again, the thought of the milk of the Word doesn't mean the simple elementary truth that we first come into as we are brought to the Lord.
But the reason the thought of milk is brought in here is that it's that which nourishes and that which causes growth. Just as in a newborn baby, it not only desire for that milk, but that milk produces growth. And so it is in the believer all the throughout the whole of his lifetime.
There should be that desire for the word of God, and there should be growth as a result, always growing. We never come to a point when we cease to grow in the things of God in a spiritual way and moral ways, so we would always have a desire. So I would ask.
And again, especially those who are young, do you have a desire for the word of God? And I suppose there would be many have to say, honestly, not really.
Well, you know, there are things that can dull our desire for the word of God.
When I was first convulsed to the Lord and knew the Lord is my Savior.
Not having been raised in a Christian family and not having been not being familiar with the Bible fact, I didn't have a Bible.
My sister gave me a Bible as a gift.
I had already bought one, but she wanted to give me something as a gift and she wrote in the front of the Bible. Words like this, this book will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from this book.
And that impressed me at the time and I think that it is a true principle.
That is, that is going on in a in a worldly way, in a simple way, we will find that it will keep us from this book will not have the desire to leave. We'll find that we will, we will neglect this precious book.
Will not desire to be leaving its pages and having God speak to us?
So when he says, as newborn babes desire the central milk of the word, may we be exercised not to have our our desired God, our senses God, by going on with that which is positively ungodly.
So that our desire is, is the age is taken off the desire to read the word of God. But may there be growth.
You know, the important thing with, I would say the young people is not so much.
As to how much ability you might have to stand up in a public way if God gives a fine, and perhaps.
Pray or do things in a public way.
The great thing is that there should be growth, a continual growth from year to year. Can you say that there has been growth this year over last year?
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And we believe the thought of growth is found right here in the first Peter 2 when he says to whom Coming as unto a living stone. In other words, I believe that the growth would mean that we draw closer to the Lord.
And at the same time, farther from the world. That's the direction of growth, hates in the direction of being closer to the Lord and father from the world. I've enjoyed a little incident in the life of Samuel when he was a boy. You remember his mother, Hannah?
Leave him to the.
Service of the Lord as He is given to her according to her desire and prayer.
And he served there under the priesthood of Eli. And it is said in, I think about the third chapter of First Samuel that if he went up year by year, she brought him a little coat.
But he was said year by year she brought him a coat.
Because, you see, every year he grew, because that the child Samuel grew on and as he grew, the coat that he had the year before would not fit for the next year.
In other words, there was there was growth. Every year he was making positive style, Samuel grew on and increased in favor with God and with men.
And that's the thought of growth.
Do you think, can you say that she has made progress in the last year that you feel that there has been growth so that you might save the garments, the waves and have it and outlook and spirit that you had last year, you can look back and say, well there were things I didn't understand then.
And now I know better. There were things I didn't appreciate, but now I do. And perhaps if the Lord leads us here another year, you might be able to say next year that there's been growth too, that you've made progress.
Before the eye of God. And perhaps it's come out too, so that even others might take notice of it. So God would have us to grow. And it's by the Word of God. It's what it says here that you may grow thereby. And it's only the Word of God that will give us truth.
We might be very knowledgeable.
In many things, as far as this world is concerned.
And as our brother, Mission Two says, we know that.
We have to have a certain amount of knowledge of the things in this life that are not necessarily connected with God.
Might be connected with our livelihood.
My profession, I work, whatever it is.
And no doubt, Justin, being in this world, we come into contact of enough with it to know what's going on roundabout.
But none of these things will give us spiritual growth.
And as young people immersed themselves in this study, in this, in their livelihood.
In these various pursuits that might be an R all right in themselves, but to immerse oneself in them will hinder their spiritual growth, But oh God would have us to be in the world leading meditating.
Would be killing the Curse in order that there might be the growth. Now turn over to Revelation.
Chapter 10 and I want to point out perhaps what maybe we haven't noticed before in connection with food.
He's spoken of food as sustaining life and building us up constitutionally.
And food that produces growth, the word of God.
But here we have one eating in verse 10.
I would treat the food he eats.
In view of what we have in verse 11.
Thou must prophecy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and king.
In other words.
He ate in view of bearing testimony.
Bearing testimony for the Lord. Now, I'm not going into the interpretation properly of this chapter. I know it has reference to the processes concerning Israel, and perhaps had it leaked on to the next chapter where we have the two witnesses. But I would like to apply it to those of us today in connection with the testimony of the Lord today.
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There will be a testimony when we're taken out of the world.
There will be a testimony, and it's called the testimony of Jesus too.
Will be in regard to the coming Kingdom and the restoration of Israel.
It will not be. The testimony that we bear today is brought before us in First Timothy 2 That God would have all men to be saved and come under the knowledge of the truth, because the Lord Jesus has given himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time. That is, this is the time in which this testimony is going out.
The testimony of God today is in regard to the person and work of His beloved Son. And as we've been reminded in our leaders that not only the cross, the suffering from the cross, but it's resurrection. And I would add something to that, not only resurrection, but it's attention.
He has ascended up into the presence of God, not only resurrected, but ascended, and upon his ascension on high he sent down the Holy Church.
And yet farmed here in this world is true.
His assembly, he said. I will build my assembly so that we can read in First Timothy three of the House of God, the Church of the Living God, the Pillar, and Support of the Truth.
Killer has reference to testimony to finding the Old Testament. On more than one occasion, a pillar was erected as a witness.
So the assembly is connected with the testimony of the Lord. The testimony of the Lord is not only the person and work of Christ, but the fact that he's gone on high and He has established here on earth His assembly.
And that assembly.
Is composed cause of believers, but it's composed of a heavenly company.
And I think that one of the reasons we have.
Resurrection in First Corinthians 15.
It's the show that's a platform of the assembly, as it were. Is resurrection A heavenly company? No. Here on earth, bearing testimony and witness to the Lord Jesus, there are heavenly companies. They're really seen morally as those who have come out of heaven.
And they're going up into heaven to be with the Lord Jesus.
The Lord says there and out of the world, even as I am not of the world.
And then he says, even if my father sent me Even so send I you into the world, morally they're not of the world.
Just as you are. And a sense you might say, the assembly of the church is like the Lord Jesus that just comes down out of heaven.
As a witness in testimony for God and then to be taken up into heaven when it's witness is finished.
Well, I think the thought here is at least what I want to sympathize in connection with this chapter 10 is that in the assimilating of the Word of God, the evening of the word of God taking it in.
The proof of it, learning what God's testimony is, the true character of that testimony.
And the circumstances in which that testimony is found in this world so that we can be effective witnesses.
Sometimes a year or so ago, a young brother.
Gave me a book and asked me to review it.
And to give my father to this book, it was written by a man who is not gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus.
And when I picked a book from him, I said well before I read the book.
Because I've read many books in days past before I was gathered by those who are called fundamentalists in the camp.
And I know that they have a lot that is poop and they write things that are true. So I said I anticipate in reading this book that I'll find many things that are true and correct.
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I said I want to ask you without without even reading the book.
I said When you read this book.
Did it have the effect of strengthening you in the place that you occupy outside the camp gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ?
Always says no, there's nothing like that in there.
I said, If you read this book and book like this and had no other teaching, would you understand what the true testimony of the Lord is outside the camp, what the true character of the assembly is, and its order?
And what belongs to it and the confusion that man has brought in, He said. No, I don't think I will.
So do you see? He was not getting food from those rising. That would strengthen him in regard to the testimony of the Lord, because the testimony of the Lord is beyond it, includes would not minimize it, the so-called fundamentals of the faith.
One might hold the virgin birth of Christ, the Deity of Christ. The truth of the Bible is the word of God, the coming of the Lord, and the so-called fundamentals, and still not be in the true character of the testimony of the Lord.
Which brings out, as we find in the scripture, the assembly.
Not only the body of Christ with the House of God, and God has never given that Father.
God has not abandoned his part of the assembly.
Not only is it found in the Word of God, but in his goodness and grace he had this truth revived.
I believe represented by the church in Philadelphia in Revelation 3, it has been revived and restored so that there is a testimony to the fact that the Lord Jesus has His assembly here and the character of that assembly.
What it is I set forth in the word and the circumstances in which it is found as being.
You might save separate entirely from this world, a heavenly company and a company that is associated with himself as a risen and living head well.
Here we see the John Patrick book in order that he might be an effective testimony. No doubt this is taken in figure from a similar thing that we have in the Property Details Chapter 3, which I'm not going to turn to, but I commended you to read. There he was told to eat.
Then he is so the gold and feet that he had to eat first.
And I would say to young people among us that perhaps.
We might sometimes have ideas.
As to.
How things ought to be among us. Perhaps we have ideas sometimes that things need to be altered and changed in such a way that that it would be more in keeping or correspond more to what others do. Roundabouts.
What I would ask you to get those things from the word of God? Or do you get them from association?
And from the writings of those that are not gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus.
I believe that there could be an exercise that we would feed upon that which will sustain us in the testimony.
Our brother Barry was saying yesterday that if the Lord do not come, there are many here who will not be around but a few years, and those who are younger here whom God would look to to carry on the testimony and.
God would desire that that testimony be carried on according to the precious truth found in the Word, and which has been revived and restored to His beloved people in these last and closing days.
The food is found in the word, but I would just like to say in clothing refer to.
A portion in Matthew Chapter 24.
I'm not going to go in detail, but this would be something I think to exercise even those who are older.
Saint Matthew, Chapter 24.
01:00:06
Verse 45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his Lord has made ruler over his household to give them meat in DC?
The food, as it were, we've been thinking about, is found in the Word of God. Thy word was found, and I did eat it.
And on the other hand we see true that there is.
The thought of the food being provided.
By faithful and wise service.
Being provided, I'm sure that God would have those who are older than our gatherings to be exercised, that they might be able to provide the food.
In this season, for those younger ones in the meeting that need to be through, the Lord commanded that something be given her to eat.
And here we read about those who provided in due season.
And so I would also leave you with this thought that young people we want to be exercised through as to where we get that food.
Because if we get the food in the wrong places, we have to be getting the wrong type of food. Food that will not cause us to grow in separation from the world and in appreciation of the person of Christ. Food that will not build us up constitutionally in order to go against the current of this world and be insulated from its influence.
Food that will not establish us in the testimony.
They want to get it from the right sources as well as those, as I say, to be exercised, that they might provide it for the dear young people.
Serving the Word or God?
Address—J. Brereton
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General Meetings, Toledo, November 1976.
Address by John Braden.
Mike, we open the meeting this afternoon by training number 75 in the appendix.
No separation.
All my soul to God who speaks the words.
So close to spirit reunites with Christ thy risen Lord.
Number 75, someone was charged for sleep.
Turn first of all to the Book of Dude for a couple of verses there.
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The book of Dude and the 11Th verse.
Woe unto them, For they have gone in the way of Cain.
And then the 14th verse.
And Enoch also the 7th from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with 10 thousands of his Saints.
To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them.
Of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed.
And of all their hard features, which ungodly sinners have spoken against him?
And now, if you turn over to 1St Corinthians chapter 15 for a moment.
First Corinthians chapter 15.
And verse 45.
And so it is written. The first man, Adam, was made a living soul. The last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
And now if you'll turn over to Genesis chapter 4.
And Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bare king, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord.
And she again bare his brother Abel.
And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a killer of the ground.
And in process of time it came to pass that king brought of the fruit of the ground, and offering unto the Lord.
And Abel he also brought of the first flings of his flock, and of the fact thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel, and to his offering.
But unto Cain and to his offerings he had not respect.
And Cain was very rough, and his countenance fell.
And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou lost? And why is thy countenance fallen?
If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted, and if thou doest not well?
Thin lieth at the door, and unto thee shall be his desire.
And thou shalt rule over him.
And Cain talked with Abel his brother, and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that King rose up against Abel his brother, and flew him.
And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not, Am I my brother's keeper? And he said, What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood, priest, unto me from the ground.
And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth, to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand?
When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength.
Fugitives and a Vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.
And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth.
And from thy faith shall I be hid, and I shall be a fugitive and a Vagabond in the earth, and it shall come to pass.
That everyone that findeth me shall claim me.
And the Lord said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth king, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark upon king, lest any finding him to kill him.
And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod in the east of Eden.
And King knew his wife, and she conceived and bare enough. And he builded a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son Enoch.
And unto Enoch was born Irad and Irad begat Nehu, GAIL and Nikhil. Jail begat Matuzzio, and Methuselah begat Lamech.
And Layla took unto him two wives. The name of the one was Ada, and the name of the other Zillah.
00:10:06
And either bear Gable, who was the father of such as dwelling tension of such as have cattle.
And his brother's name was Jubal. He was the father of all such as handled the harp and organs.
And Zillah. She also bears Tubal Team. An instructor of every architecture in Brass and Iron and the sister of Tubal Kane was Naima.
And Lamech said unto his wives. Ada and Villa, hear my voice be wives of Lamech, Hearken unto my speech, for I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my heart. If king shall be Avenged Sevenfold, surely truly Lamech 70 and seven fools.
And Adam knew his wife again, and she bear a son, and called his name Seth. For God said she hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain flew, and to Seth to him also there was born a son, and he called his name. Enoch then began then to call upon the name of the Lord.
This is the book of the generations of Adam in the day that God created man.
And the likeness of God made he him, male and female, created he them, and blessed them, and called their name Adam in the day when they were created.
And Adam lived in 130 years and began a son in his own likeness after his image, and called his name Seth. And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were 800 years.
And he begat sons and daughters.
And all the days that Adam lived were 930 years and he died.
And it will drop down to the 18th verse.
And Jared lived in 160 in two years, and he begat Enoch.
And Jared lived after he begat Enoch.
800 years and begat sons and daughters, and all the days of Jared were 960 in two years and he died.
And Enoch lived.
60 and five years and begat Methuselah.
And Enoch walked with God.
After he begot Methuselah 300 years.
And begat sons and daughters.
And all the days of Enochs were 360 and five years.
And Enoch walked with God, and he was not.
For God took him.
Elderly young people.
What I have before me this afternoon.
It's a food for a little while about.
The two families that God's Word set before.
We find, for instance, in the book of Dude.
That we have reference made to the way of Cain.
And we find that reference is made to the prophecy of Enoch.
Now these men were in different families.
In fact, cane, we have.
The family of unbelief.
The family that lives, that speaks after its satisfaction.
That is characterized by things that are identified with this world.
And an Enoch.
We have one who was part of the family of faith.
We find in First Corinthians chapter 15.
That two atoms are set before us.
The first atom.
And the laughs at it.
And what I would like to speak of this afternoon is to see here in these two chapters before us.
That's what springs from the first atom.
And that which springs from the last atom.
That which is identified with.
And that which is identified with Enoch.
Now we began reading in the 4th chapter.
Where Adam and Eve have been cast out of the garden.
And Eve conceives and has a son.
00:15:01
This is a son that is born outside of the garden.
This is a son who is to be.
Identified with a family of unbelief.
And so we see that team.
Begins his history.
By seeking to approach God.
In a way, that's evidence that showed that he had not believed the sentence that God had passed upon the world.
To turn back to the third chapter for just a moment.
And the.
17.
And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hath eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it.
Person is the ground for thy faith.
Now we find in the part that we began with this afternoon.
At the end of the second verse tells us Cain was a killer of the ground.
And in process of time it came to pass, that king brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord.
All beloved young people, why is it if you're not saved this afternoon?
Why is it that you're not saved?
Can you truly say it's because you don't know how to be saved?
Or would you have to line up here with Cain and say it's because?
I haven't believed what God has said.
We find in this world today there are millions and millions who have heard the gospel that are not saved.
They do not believe.
Two things. One, the goodness that's in the heart of God for them.
And secondly.
How utterly lost.
The first man.
Truly is.
And so we find in the case of Cain, even though the sentence had been passed, Cursed is the ground.
10 feet to bring in his offering to God that which came from a cursor.
And it could not be accepted.
And so we find, dear young people, that the first characteristic.
Of this family that brings out of Adam through King.
Is unbelief.
Of all that God has revealed.
Unbelief of what God has said about man.
Unbelief of the goodness that is in the heart of God.
The next thing we find is.
That.
Have been provided with a coat of skin.
Eve had been provided with a coat of skin.
The very evidence introduced dear young people.
That the only way man's nakedness before God could be covered.
Was by the death of another.
But Teen apparently did not believe this either.
Abel offers.
A slain teeth.
The first flings of his flock.
But king offers the fruit of a cursed ground.
Then if you notice in the.
6th verse after God has revealed to Cain.
That his offering was not accepted.
It tells us in the sixth verse. And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou lost?
And why is thy countenance fallen, if thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted?
And if thou doest not well sin, or a sin offering lieth at the door.
I believe that what God was saying to change here was.
Why are you angry?
Why is your countenance fallen?
00:20:01
The same way of approaches open to you as was open to your brother Abel.
And dear young people, if I can say a word again to any that is here that are not saved this afternoon.
First of all, as we have said, it springs from unbelief of what God has said about your need and about the one that meets that need.
But secondly we find that God says to your heart as he said to King.
That's the very same way.
Is open for you to come.
As has been accepted by so many here this afternoon.
Dear young people, many here can vote for the wondrous merits of the Precious Blood of Christ.
Many here can bear testimony to the wondrous grace of God.
That has ever given us to see by faith that it was by the sacrifice.
Of another God's beloved Son that we have found acceptance.
Before God, in Christ, in God's beloved Son.
But to those who are not saved this afternoon.
The same message is given to you as was given to clues. You are free to come in the same way.
Through the death of another.
You are free to come and find acceptance too.
Finished work of God, beloved Son of Calvin.
Can I again make one appeal before I leave this part if you're not saved?
Don't go away from this meeting today without first exceptions. Crime says your savior. What a tragedy, dear young people, if we could, as we will find in a few moments, the end of that course for the family of faith.
And you should still be here without Christ.
Well, as I say, we find the first characteristic of this family of Cain this way of Cain.
Is unbelief.
The second is refusal to accept.
The provision that God has made for your salvation.
The eighth verse.
And King talked with Abel his brother, and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel, his brother.
And flew him.
Now we find.
That the way of Cain is characterized by death.
Death comes in the first man, dear young people market.
The first man brought in that within its fruit.
Produce death.
It has struck my own soul.
As a parent.
I submit to you, my beloved brethren, that Eve never. Really.
Fully saw.
The significance? The results of fruit.
Of what he had done in the garden, until the day came when he saw death before her eyes, and the person of her own son, Abel.
The reason I say that?
Is that we can find ourselves as parents.
Reaching for things in this world for our children.
Only to find out the tragic results for them.
And then when it is too late.
We realize that we never should have done it.
Allowing things into our homes.
That introduced that which brings in death.
And corruption and violence.
Well, we find that when.
Has his way.
The result is death. Death for Abel.
Then when we go down a little bit, we come to the.
00:25:02
11 first.
God has spoken to Cain about his brother.
And in the 11Th verse the Lord now says, and now ourselves cursed from the earth.
Which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand.
When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto be her strength a fugitive and a Vagabond shall thou be in the earth.
And Cain said unto the Lord, by punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth, and from thy face shall I be hid, and I shall be a fugitive and a Vagabond in the earth. And it shall come to pass, that everyone that findeth me shall claim it.
Young people. Does that not sound familiar?
Do we not find it even today?
There are those who reaching the consequences of sin and departure from God.
Still find it in their hearts to blame God for the consequences.
To blame God for what has come in. To blame God as he did here.
Saying my punishment is more than I can bear.
He speaks of that which was going to be.
The result of his own willful sin and departure from God, and at the same time.
Tells God that it's more than he can bear, and that it's really all God's spot fault for punishing him this way.
The next thing we find is in the 15th verse. And the Lord said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth king, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him. And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden.
It has often been said to young people, and rightly so.
That God has withheld some man the full consequences of his fall.
He has not yet reached the full consequences of it, for instance, even though the ground is cursed.
And doesn't produce as it could.
It nevertheless produces much food.
As we can bear testimony through a few moments ago.
We find in the case of Adam, in the case of Cain, I should say that God suspended the carrying out of the full consequences of what?
Cain had gone and was doing.
And what does pain do as a result? Oh dear young people? He goes out from the presence of the Lord. And instead of owning before God that God was righteous, and speaking by God's grace to avail himself of the way of approach back to God through the death of another, we find that pain goes out from the presence of God and seek to make this world.
As attractive to him as he possibly can.
And so we find that when the senses.
The sentence of death.
Which hungover came was temporarily suspended.
The result in the life of Cain was not repentance. It was not a turning to God.
It was not a cry for mercy, but it was a determination.
To make this world as attractive as he could.
Away from the presence of God, dear young people, that's the world that I would like to talk to you about for a few moments.
You notice it says in the 19th verse Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of evening.
And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived, and bare enough, and he builded a city.
And called the name of the city after the name of his son.
Enough. Here he is now, man.
The builders. He's building a city. He's lost the garden.
00:30:06
But he's building a city, a city that is called by the name of his own son. If I could put it this way, dear young people, and the way it strikes my own soul, it's as if man says this is what I have done and I'm putting my stamp on it to prove that it's the fruit of my own doing. The fruit of Cain's own life was stamped upon that city.
And that's exactly the world in which we live, all beloved young people. This world what God speaks of as the world when he says love, not the world, neither the things that are in the world. It's Speaking of pained world, this world that was erected outside of the presence of God. And as I say, the first thing that it's marked by is man's name written upon it.
I was struck very much some years ago.
When Canada had a world exhibition.
And they it was held in Montreal.
And in the advertisements that were put out for that.
Exhibition.
It was called Man and His World. That's exactly what Cain did.
Man and his world, he said. This is my city. The fruit of my doing bears the name of my son.
The name of Tina.
Then we find it says, And unto Enochs was born Irad, and Irad begat Methusel, and so on, and then dropped down to the 19th verse, and Lamech took unto him to why the name of the one was Ada, and the name of the other villa?
And Ada bear Gable, He was the father of such a dwelling tent.
And as such, as have cattle.
Now I will leave it to you to do the counting.
But if you follow the names that are written here in this chapter.
You will find that the 7th.
From Adam through King was Lamech.
And we will find in a few minutes the Lord gives us the time for it. That's the 7th from Adam through Seth was Enoch.
We find here that the 7th.
From Adam through Cain. If I could use this terminology, dear young people.
What God is saying to us, I want you to see the end of the course.
That number of completeness.
The number seven, God says Look at the end of the course. Look at where that world leaves.
And what do we find?
We find corruption all indeed we do. We find Lamech has corrupted God's orders.
He has introduced that which stamps all over this world today, that which is seeking man's own will to satisfy his own carnal nature.
And so we find that Lamech has two wives.
Not one.
We find that that is which has been introduced.
To seek to make this world an attractive place, you notice, it tells us.
That Gable he was the father of such as well intention of such as have cattle.
His mother's name was Jubal. His brother's name was Jubal. He was the father of all such as handled the harp and organ.
And zealous he also bare tubal cane, an instructor of every artistifer in brass and iron.
Well, God has put here in very general terms for us what we might call the world of commerce.
The world of entertainment and the world of science.
But then you notice it says in the end of the 22nd verse, and the sister of Tubal King was Naima That has struck one's own soul. Because you know, dear young people, the meaning of the word nema is pleasant, and this was what the whole plan was for.
Cain had been outside of the presence of God, but he wanted where he was to bear his own stamp, to be the fruit of his own doings.
00:35:11
And it could be a pleasant place.
And so he builds the city, and so his.
Offspring introduced into it.
These things that are so characteristic of this world, or how much man boasts of the progress that he has made.
In the world of entertainment. In the world of science and the world of industry.
Perhaps more so on this conscience than in anywhere else in the world. And yet, where is it all leaving? All dear young people notice it. Where does it all leave? Here's Lamech the 7th, the end of the course. He looks at all that he has. He looks at all that has been produced, even from his own grandchildren.
And he passes a verdict on it all, he says. And Lamech said unto his wives, Ada Angela.
Hear my voice, you wise of laymen, hearken unto my feet, for I have slain a man to my wounding.
And a young man to my heart. If king shall be Avenged Sevenfold. Truly Lamech, 70s and seven fools. That's the end of the course for this world and dear young people. The world doesn't get better, it gets worse.
We find here, in connection with Lamech, that he can pronounce his own judgment, his own sentence.
He knows what he has done. He can look back, as it were, to change and what progress has been made. No progress.
Just an increase.
In the judgment that's ahead for this world, my friend, dear young people, how solemnly to look at a chapter like this, to read this history of the family of kings, the Way of King, and to see where the world leads, what its characteristics are, and what it ended.
To be judged of God, dear young people, is this world anymore guilty now than it was?
In the day of Cain, yes, indeed, the debt has piled up.
But the way of the world has not changed. It's still a way of corruption.
It's still a world of violence. It's still a world that seeks to satisfy itself.
Outside of the presence of God, their beloved young people, that's the world.
That Satan seeks to entice your heart and mind to be taken up with.
That's the world that God takes so graphically for us in His word, and then says to your heart and my love, not the world.
Neither the things that are in the world.
If any man loved the world.
The love of the Father is not in him. We cannot be taken up with this world.
And being enjoying the love of the Father at the same time.
Now let's go on and look at the next family.
The 25th verse Adam knew his wife again, and she bare a son and called his name Seth. For God said she hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, who came flu and success to him also. They were born a son, and he called his name. Enoch then began then to call upon the name of the Lord. This is the book of the generations of Adam in the day that God created man in the likeness of God.
Made to him male and female, created to them, and blessed them, and called their name Adam in the day when they were created.
We find here, if I could put it this way, dear young people, because if God says now, I'm going to start all over again.
I want to start off and even uses the word. This is the book of the generations of Adam.
You were to go back to the second chapter and the fourth verse that says these are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created.
And the day that the Lord God made the earth in the heaven. And then we see what flowed from Adam and Eve that first Adam and now God brings before us in tight.
The last atom, the last atom we find that here is 1.
Who was the language here said in the day that God created man in the likeness of God made he him?
00:40:05
Now there are young people mark what I say carefully.
The Lord Jesus as God is eternal.
As God, who had no beginning, neither beginning of days, nor end of life.
But the Lord Jesus as man was born into this world.
A babe investing his Manger. And here was one finally in this world that fully, in every way, in every aspect, in every word that he said, in every thought, in every expression, everything fully revealed the mind and heart of God. Think of the Lord Jesus being here and saying he that hath seen me.
Hath seen the Father. Who is this one? Why, it's the last Adam.
The last item, the one who not only did not fail, but could not fail.
The one who not only did not sin, but could not sin. He is God's beloved Son, and we find that it's spoken of here in the 25th verse, has appointed me another seed. Yes, this indeed was a new seed, a new seed. This was the corn of wheat that would fall into the ground and die and bring forth much food.
And you notice it tells us that when God saw before him.
That second Adam, the one that we read about the last Adam, I should say the last Adam.
When God saw before him the last Adam he saw identified with him.
A bribe 1 to share his place of headship.
And so we find in the beginning of the 5th chapter in this family of faith.
We find that the one who is set at its head is the last status and with him.
A bride so closely identified with himself that he bears his name.
And so it tells us, bless them and call their name Adam in the day when they were created. But then notice the next verse. And Adam lived in 130 years, and began a son in his own license after his image. Now, dear young people, this.
Is what characterizes the family of faith.
The corn of wheat has fallen into the ground and died.
And it has brought forth truth. What kind of fruit?
All beloved young people. What kind of fruit has been produced by this new seed? By this one? Who?
Came from God.
Why it's fruit after his own image and license.
And so we find that you and I that here today belong to Christ, if you know the Lord Jesus Christ is your savior.
Beloved young people who are now not one day but now, you are a new creation. You are a new creature in Christ Jesus. You are part of a new creation of which the Lord Jesus is the head. And that creation, that new creation, is made-up of those who have been made in the image and likeness of the head. Isn't it a precious thing to think that today?
Here this afternoon.
You have the same life and the same nature as God's beloved Son.
That's your life. That's your nature. You can pick up this precious book and read through Matthew and Mark and Luke and John and read the history, the life story of that glorious man out of heaven. And you can stay honestly on the authority of God's word. That's my life that I'm reading about. I have that same life that is seen there in God's beloved sign when Christ, who is our life, shall appear.
Then shall we also appear with him in glory?
You see the nature of God displayed in all its love and loveliness in the person of Christ. And you can say that's my nature. I have been given the same nature part cases.
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Of the divine nation. What a miracle of grace.
So it was with theft. Seth was the one who came, if I could use the type that we have here from the last Adam. And he's the one who is made in the very likeness and in the image of Adam, all beloved young people. Could God do more for you than that, to give you now in this world the same life and the same nature, and to give you the promise?
That you're going to have a body fashioned like unto his body of glory.
Now, dear young people, if we belong to Christ, that is our life and that is our nation.
How is that what's being? Is that what's manifested? Is that what the world sees?
Well, we find in the connection with Seth a most lovely thing. You'll go back to the end of the fourth chapter for a moment.
It says, and success to him also. There was born a son, and he called his name Enoch. Then men began to call upon the name of the Lord. All beloved young people. What is the fruit?
What is the fruit of the new nature? What is the fruit of this new creation?
All its hearts and minds taken up with the Lord and glory. Pain is taken up with His world.
The new nature is taken up with the Lord himself.
Men began then to call upon the name of the Lord.
Here was set the fruit.
Of the nucleation and the result is the heart occupied with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Came his heart, taken up with the fruit of his union.
And what do we find? A city named after his son, his heart taken up with this world.
And seeking to make it as attractive as possible.
The next thing I would draw your attention to, it tells us and the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth for 800 years and he begat sons and daughters. And all the days that Adam lived were 930 years and he died.
Now, dear young people, as I mentioned to you earlier, the 7th the end of the course for faith, the family of faith, the new creation, the fruit.
Of the last batter.
The end of that course?
In the place the 7th from Adam is Enoch.
And it tells us you drop down to the 21St verse and Enoch lived 60 and five years and begat Methuselah.
And Enoch walked with God.
Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah 300 years and begat sons and daughters.
Oh dear young people, what a precious privilege given to man, this one. Who is the part of that family of faith?
Never says anything about cane walking with God. He went out from the presence of the Lord and never says anything about anyone in that world, that pain world walking with God.
No, but Enoch walked with God.
Now, lest there be many misunderstandings, let me emphasize to you that the Word of God speaks of you as being in this world.
We're in this world, but we are not of this world. We're not of it.
The very language the Lord Jesus says in the 17th of John. Speaking of his own, he says these are in the world.
And I come to these.
But then he says, But they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. And dear young people, here was a man who walked in the world, but not of it. He walked with God.
And the end of that course.
What's the glory? Enoch walked with God, and he was not.
For God's support, God took it.
So it tells us.
The 24th verse. And Enoch walked with God, and he was not.
For God took him.
In the second chapter of Amos.
You will find there where God speaks to Israel, and he says that his purpose, his plan for their children, was that they should be prophets and Nazareth. And here was a man who was a prophet and a Nazareth. You remember how it tells us in Jude that Enoch the 7th from Adam prophesied, saying, behold, the Lord cometh with 10 thousands of his Saints.
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Beloved young people, here was the one, the fruit of that family of faith, the fruit of the last Adam, the one who was made in the image and the likeness of that one who came from God. Beloved young people, the end of that course, the end of that family of faith, is in the glory. That's where Enoch went, and that's where you and I are going to be. What a privilege to walk with God now.
And to be a prophet for him in the midst of Cain's world.
That has struck me so much, that here was Enoch and what was he talking about? What was he bearing testimony to why he was bearing testimony to the very ungodliness of pain world. He wasn't seeking to join up in it. He wasn't seeking to partake of it. He wasn't taken up with his entertainment. He wasn't enraptured with his scientific in season. He wasn't enthralled with the advances of commerce and how he could prosper in that world.
He prophesied.
Saying, the Lord cometh with 10 thousands of His Saints to execute judgment.
All he what he did by his walk of faith was to put the stamp on the world that is all reserved unto judgment, reserved under fire in the judgment of the great day. Beloved young people notice one other thing before we stop. It has struck one's own soul, and there may be other reasons for it. I don't limit the word of God. There may be other reasons for this, but it has struck me very much that when I read the history of the First Family.
In the 4th chapter, nothing is said about the ages of the people involved. We don't know how old Kane was, we don't know how old his son was when he had a son, and so on. Nothing's told us about that. But when you come to the fifth chapter and you find the family of Saints presented, oh, God tells us exactly how long each life was when each one in that family of faith pictured to us, was born.
I know how that is struck ones own soul to realize dear young people, that when God used a family of faith, when he used you as a child of God, he would say to your heart and mind the hairs of your head are all numbers.
I just had occasion. May sound humorous, I don't mean it that way, but I went into a Barber shop.
In Pensacola, just a few days ago.
And the man in that Barber shop was very evidently a Christian. He had texts around, but one of the texts he had up behind his barbers chair was the very hairs of your head or all numbers. Or how that struck me to think. There was one who was using his office, using his work to bear witness to the fact that for the children of God, Oh dear young people, think how, how closely you're watched over how that life, yours is valued, how the years have been measured out to you.
Measured out to you?
For you to walk with God.
For you to be a prophet.
In a world that is stamped with the March of pain.
Beloved young people, another thought has been a precious to my soul in connection with these ages.
It seems to my own soul that God would not only show us how carefully each man's life is measured, how that life that you have is precious, and the years that you have are precious to use for the One who has created you in His own image, giving you His life and His nature.
But also to give us to see.
That is one of those years that were measured out were measured out in anticipation of the time.
When Enoch would be with God.
All to my own soul. It's just as if the Lord Jesus was saying to my heart here as I read this chapter, I want you to know that every one of those years, while you're in that world and I'm speaking to have you with myself in the glory, every one of those years are measured out. I know all about them. I know all about them. I know about the years that you're passing through. But all dear young people, the end of the course is glory. The Lord Jesus is waiting, longing to have you there.
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And in the meantime, he says to your heart into mind through the words of Enoch.
Walk with God. Give God the joy. Dear young people of your company. Ask God day by day for grace and strength to walk with him.
The 16th Psalm in the first verse who was a brother amongst us years ago, we used to say that that was a good prayer for every child of God to pray every day of his life, preserve the old God. For indeed do I put my trust.
Beloved young people, the end of the course for the family of faith is with Christ and Lord. The precious privilege of the family of faith now is to walk with God and to be a prophet, a testimony in this world.
To the abysmal ungodliness of Cain's world, and where it's all going to end under the judgment of God and dear young people, can I say again?
If the safety offers holds out to you.
This world and its attraction may we be given grace from our blessed, precious Savior.
To realize that the life and the nature I now have.
This new life and this new nature I now have belong to heaven.
That the life and nature that I now have are taken up with the Lord, the Lord of glory.
That grass is stamped upon this whole thing.
About what I have in Christ, what I have in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Is for the joy and rejoicing of my soul now.
And for all eternities, all when I think of.
In his world, how can my heart be taken up with? How can I be taken up with that which is brought in death and corruption and violence? How can I allow the love of young people? How can I allow in my home?
How can I set before my children? What is going to set before then? The corruption and the violence?
And the death that characterized his world.
When God has entrusted to me as a parent.
To raise up a Nazarite and a prophet.
For himself.
Caleb & Othniel
Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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General Meeting, Toledo, November 1976.
Address by Gordon Hay Hole.
Floor thou hast draw us after thee.
Now let us run, and never tire thy presence shall our comfort be thyself, our hope, our soul desires our present Savior, while nor fear nor sin can come it, Thou art near 166.
Oh God, praise God.
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I'd like to look. First of all, the young people have two verses the one.
In Romans chapter 14.
Romans chapter 14 and verse 7.
For none of us live up to himself, and no man dies to himself.
And another one in the Psalms 119 Psalm.
And the 63rd verse.
I am a companion of all them that fear thee, and of them that keep thy precept.
What I had on my heart this afternoon, dear young people, well, especially to consider two men that God has brought before us in His word, and that is Caleb and Osmil. And it was particularly with the thought of how these men through their lives had an effect upon others, how their lives became a blessing for God's glory and for the blessing of others. And as I look into the faces of so many young people.
Heart, rejoice, is to see you here under the sound of God's word, because they do come, and there does come times in our lives when we come in touch with certain things that affect our lives in a very special way. On such an occasion as this could be a turning point in your life, a turning point for blessing, so that you might find deeper joy in the Lord, and also that your life and mine too, I trust.
Would be in some way an encouragement and blessing to others. Of course, first of all, for the glory of God.
Because we can never be any blessing to others, ultimately, unless our life is for the glory of God.
But I do trust, as we look at these ones, that we will see how these lives became a blessing and some of the little things that led up to this in their lives, and how they can be in our lives too. But let us notice first of all these two verses. None of us limit to himself and no man dies to himself. Sometimes we're inclined to say, but what I do and the way I live is my business.
But you know, we must remember, dear young people, that while we do have to give an account of ourselves to God, we also are going to have an effect upon others, either to encourage or to discourage, either to be a blessing and a help, or to be a hindrance. And so I'm sure that none of us here would like to feel that our lives displayed at the judgment seat of Christ would not only be lost to ourselves.
Would not only not be for the glory of God, but would not have been for the good of anyone else.
But instead perhaps a hindrance to others, I'm sure this would be a thing that we would consider lost.
Because as our brother brought before us this morning, it is possible to have a saved soul but a lost life. Whenever we think of life, we think of someone like that He had a saved soul. There's absolutely no doubt we're going to meet Lot in the glory, but Lot had a lost life. His life was not an impact for good upon others, but rather a hindrance because of the decisions that he made in his life.
And then the other verse that we read in the 119th Psalm certainly gives us an indication of the kind of friends that we should have in the scripture that we were considering this morning it said evil communication, corrupt good manners. Now that is, if we get under the sound of what is false or if we form friendships that are harmful, it is going to affect us. And so if we are affected the wrong way by others, then also our lives have the wrong.
Effect upon others whom we become, we come in contact with.
And so let us ask ourselves, what kind of companions are we choosing? We all have to make choices. It's true that when we are saved, we're brought into the family of God. My father used to have a little thing, he said. God chooses my friend for me. And there's something for us to think about in this too. Because if we let God choose our friend for us, this is the kind of friend he will choose.
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Companions of those who fear Him, because the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And I like to ask you, among those you come as your friend, do they fear the Lord? Do they really speak to honor him in their lives? And also it says, And of them that keep thy precepts. Do they seek to follow the word of God? Now we recognize that there is a room for growth with each one of us.
Will not be full grown until we get home to glory down here in this world. We're in the school of God. We're in, in a certain way, the growing progress process, and I hope it is growth to the glory of God. So we don't expect everything all at once.
But as we said in these meetings, and the truth is brought before us, is there a response within us? Do we say as we hear it, ministered? Well, that speaks to me. I'm sometimes glad when I hear a young person after a meeting, and sometimes an older one too. Sometimes I say it myself. That's meeting was for me. That meeting was for me. And so it's nice when we receive the word for ourselves, when we feel of God is speaking. And it's not the person, the individual, who gives the message, but it's whether we hear the voice of God through His word and by his spirit.
Speaking to us and as we think of the friends that we call our friends, our associates, our companions, do they qualify? According to this scripture? I am a companion of all them that fear thee, and of them that keep thy precepts. Oh, I'm sure if we think about this, it is it makes us desire to be in the company of those who really love the Lord Jesus, who really want to please him.
And then, if this is so, our personal lives will be for God's glory, and more than this, they will be a blessing to others. They will have an impact upon others with whom we come in contact, For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dies to himself. It is impossible, I think, again, just to go through life and not have some effect one way or other upon those with whom we come in contact.
When all that turned back to the Book of Numbers and the 13th chapter.
And as far as I can recall, this is our introduction to Caleb in the scripture. I don't recall of him being mentioned previous to this.
Deuteronomy, Pardon Me Numbers, Chapter 13.
And the first verse. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Send thou man, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give under the children of Israel, of every tribe of their fathers, shall you send the man everyone a ruler among them. And then the sixth verse of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jefuna.
And I will just notice the eighth verse of the tribe of Ephraim Ocean, the son of Nun, and the 16th verse. These are the names of the men which Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Orcia the son of Nun Joshua, or he's afterwards called Joshua.
And move the sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them, Get you up this way southward, and go up into the mountains, and see the land what it is, and the people that dwell are in, whether they be strong or weak, to queue or many. And what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad. And what cities they be that they dwell in, whether in tents or in strongholds, smooth the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether there be wood there in or not.
And be of good courage, and being of the feet of the land. Now the time was the time of the first strike. Great.
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23rd verse And they came unto the book Eschol, and cut down from France a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bear it between two upon a staff. And they brought of the pomegranates and of the figs.
Well, as I said, here we have Caleb brought before us.
We read about Joshua previously that Joshua, a young man, had sought out the company of Moses and we find him as Moses helper slowly to see a young person who seeks to be in the company of someone who has thought to be a help and a blessing to the people of God. Moses himself had many things to learn in the school of God, but when the time came that God used Moses to bring the people out of the land of Egypt and into the wilderness.
We find that Joshua identifies himself with him and when the people fell into idolatry.
The Joshua was one who stood apart from that, and so we see that Joshua had chosen the right kind of a companion. Is it any wonder that his afterlife after being in the company with Moses was such a blessing to the people of God, and how he was accused of God afterwards to lead the people across the Jordan and into the land and into the possession of the land? It wasn't however, particularly to speak of Joshua, but I mentioned him because of his association with Caleb, and we can see how that in his life also.
The companionship that he formed molded his life and made him a blessing.
But I was thinking here about how Caleb was chosen on this occasion as one of the spies to go up and to search out the land of Canaan. And as I said before, dear young people, there come certain times in our lives that can have an effect that would be a turning point in our whole life. Many of us can look back and we think of certain occasions, momentous times in our lives, and it affected the whole after course of our lives.
I think I can see many, many who are saying yes. I can remember a certain occasion I can in my life and probably you can. When something came into your life and it was a deciding point, it was an hour of decision and you made a decision that affected the whole of the rest of your life. All these points are so important because you know the enemy is always busy at these points of decisions.
The Bible says multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decisions, and we come to these points.
And oh, how important it is that we hear the right voice and that we make the right decision on such occasions as this.
Well, there were twelve of them who went over. They would aspire out the land and see what kind of a land it was. Was it strong, worthy inhabitants, Strong or weak? Were there many? How did they live? All about the fruit of the land too. And so they all went over the 12 of them. Together they all saw the same thing. They saw these men of stature, these sons of Anarch. They saw these walled cities.
The people dwelling in strongholds, they saw the good food of the land.
And they came back with their reports. They all saw the same thing, but all what a different effect it had on two of them.
In contrast with the other ten, there were ten of them, and they saw that good fruit perhaps even helped to carry it back. We're not told that it was Caleb and Joshua that carried that big bunch of grapes. It might have been some of the others who were afterwards so unbelieving.
But they all thought they all displayed it to the congregation. And perhaps if you sit in the meeting and listen to the things here, are you one of the 10 or are you one of the two? You listen to these things you say. I know that's right. I know that it is a good thing to follow Christ, to make him my object, to live for him. But there's just so many difficulties in the way.
And that's what these other ten seem to dwell upon. The Great Wall, the giants, all the obstacles that seem so insurmountable. And perhaps as you sit in the meeting and your heart is stirred, and I'm sure if you are a true, a true child of God, your heart is spared, as we speak well of Christ and of his love and what he means to those of us who belong to him. I know your heart is stirred.
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Yet perhaps you're looking at the big difficulties. Well, I've often said that the difference between Caleb and Joshua and the other ten was this. Not that they saw different things, but Caleb and Joshua measured the difficulties.
In contrast with God's power, with God's love for His people, His delight in them, And so this gave them to underlay all those great difficulties, and to enjoy the prospects of the good fruit of the land, and all that they would have in that land that God had promised to His people. The other ten, however, although they saw this precious fruit, as they compared themselves to the difficulties.
They said they felt like giants beside these grasshoppers, beside these, they felt like grasshoppers beside these giants. They were just nothing beside them. And they said these walls, cities, we just never can overcome them. And they thought of all the difficulties, all the problems, all the hardships. And I'm not going to tell you that there are no difficulties. Caleb and Joshua knew there were difficulties.
Paul told the young believers, we must through much tribulation enter into the Kingdom of God. We've been noticing this morning how that the Christian may be called upon to fight after the manner of man with beasts at Ephesus. He may be called upon to lay down his life for Christ. He may be called upon to make sacrifices, but when he looks on to the glorious end of the journey.
The good land where we're going to spend eternity that far eclipses all the problems of the way. And more than that, when we compare those giants to the God of Heaven, they're very small. No matter how tall those giants were, the way they had six fingers on their hands or not made no difference. If you made the comparison with God, the great God of the universe, the one who made all things, what were those giants in comparison to him?
They were just nothing, but with the high walls in comparison with the one who is above all, they were nothing. And so they looked at God instead of at the difficulties. And they said if our God delights in US.
Then he will give us the Lamb. But you'll notice and dear young people that they were in the minority, 10 of them discouraged the people. Ten of them said it's more years. The path of following the Lord is far too difficult. But the two of them together encourage the people. Two of them sought to be a blessing and help the people of God to face the problems and know that God was able.
For the difficulties that were ahead, notice the 30th verse.
And Caleb still the people before Moses and said let us go up at 1. Simple that said.
For we are well able to overcome it, but the men that went up with him said we be not able to go up against the people. For they are stronger than we notice the difference in the way they looked at the situation. Because they, Caleb, knew that God delighted in his people and that He would certainly give them the land. Notice the 14th chapters and the 7th person will see speaks again.
And they that Caleb and Josh to us, they come to all the company of the children of Israel saying.
The land which we passed through the circuit is an exceeding good land. If the Lord delighting us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us a land which flowers with milk and honey only. Rebel not ye against the Lord, neither Fear ye the people of the land, for they are bred for us. 30 fences departed from them, and the Lord is with us. Fear them not.
Phone Notice here the reason for their confidence was not self-confidence. That's a very bad thing to have self-confidence, but it's a very blessed thing to have confidence in the Lord and dear young people. I know that your lot is cast in a very difficult day.
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I know that some of these things that you have to meet seem just about insurmountable, but they're not insurmountable to God. He's well able to help you, to be an overcomer, greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. The Lord will not fail you. He's able to give you the strength to go forward. And so we find here, Caleb, having looked at things from God's viewpoint, we see now he didn't live to himself.
He didn't just keep this all in and keep it in his own heart. Instead of this, he's trying to fill the people. He's trying to encourage them.
And after this, there were quite a few years, 30 some years that they journeyed on and on through the wilderness.
They faced a lot of difficulties through that wilderness, and perhaps at times Caleb might have said, oh, it's a long wait, It's hard to have to endure all these things about. His confidence was in God. And so if you decide that you desire to put the Lord first in your life, I assure you of this, God is going to test your faith. He's not going to allow everything to come along just easily.
Then he's going to let you go through a lot of problems that are common to the people of God. And the only thing that sustained Caleb and Josh two or three those years was denied that God was going to bring them in and when he was going to bring them in.
Time was best, and they walked by faith, not by sight.
They couldn't see that good land any longer. They saw nothing but the wilderness, Sam, although they did of course see the provision that God had made in the tabernacles so they could approach into His presence. But all how It must have taken faith for them as they went on year after year all through that wilderness, and I'm sure that many a time they had to encourage themselves.
In the Lord their God.
But at last the time came when the Lord told Joshua that he was to lead the people into the land. Oh, what a time this was for Joshua after all those years of going on through the wilderness. And now he is fitted to be a leader and to be a help. And he leads the people into the land. And, you know God has those.
Who perhaps still work somewhat quietly.
And he has those who perhaps are called to a more public place, it seems In these two men, Joshua and Caleb, we have that represented to us. That is, Joshua was one who was a leader. Caleb, on his part, seems to be one who rather took a more retired place. In fact, I might say that the word Joshua the name means Jesus or the Savior.
For as Caleb means God.
And a dog, you know, follows his master. And that was really what characterized Caleb. It says that he wholly followed the Lord. And so it wasn't perhaps the the leader kind. But I wanted to show you though, he was not the leader kind.
He was one who did have a great influence upon the people of God.
And so you might say, well, I don't think that I am the kind that could really be a special help to anyone. I'm not the kind that would be a leader. But Caleb was not. But Caleb had a purpose in his heart. Caleb, in his quiet way, sought to encourage the people of God. Caleb sought the company of Joshua, who was a man of God, who in turn had sought the company of Moses.
So you see this influence that Moses had on Joshua, that Joshua had upon Caleb, and later on that Caleb had upon Osmio. And let's turn over to Joshua's.
And the the 14th chapter.
I.
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And the seventh verse, 40 years old was I, when Moses, the servant of the Lord, sent me from Katie Shania to aspire out the land. And I brought him word again as it was in mine heart. Nevertheless my brethren that went up with me, made the heart of the people melt. But I wholly followed the Lord my God, and lose a swear on that day, saying, Surely the land were on my feet have trodden shall be thine inheritance.
And thy children forever, because thou is holy, followed the Lord my God. And now behold, the Lord hath kept me alive, as he said, these forty and five years even since the Lord speak this day unto Moses, while the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness. And now lo, I am this day four score, and five years old as yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me. As my strength was then, Even so is my strength now for war.
Both to go out and to come in none. Therefore give me this mountain without the Lord stake on that day, that I'll hurt us in that day how the Anakin were there, and that the cities were great and fence. If so be the Lord will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out, as the Lord said, and Joshua blessed him, and gave him the Caleb, the son of Jessuna, Hebron, for inheritance.
Now Hebron therefore became the inheritance of Caleb, the son of Jefuna the Kezonite, the Kenzite under this day, because that he wholly followed the Lord God of Israel. And the name of Hebron before was Curtis Arba, which Arba was a great man among the Anakin, and the land had rest from war.
As I say, it took a long time, 40 years of 1345 to this point, from the time that he went into the land. And perhaps I hear some young person say, well, that's truly a long time to wait, 40-5 years. But you know, time doesn't count with God in the same way it does with us. The great thing for us in our lives is that we can live for his glory. And then our lives do count. And whether they're short or long, John the Baptist.
Glorified the Lord in his life. The Lord said he was the greatest among those born women, but he actually only lived 30 some years, I suppose just barely over 30, and that was his service to the Lord. So let us not think about time particularly, but whether our life is for the glory of God. Well, God has sustained him through this time because he wholly followed the Lord.
You might have think here that when he said this himself, but he wholly followed the Lord, that it was somewhat like a bull. But I don't believe so. I just commend this thought to you that we need to have the testimony of our own conscience that we are seeking to live to please the Lord.
We have, we wait till I say the judgment seat of Christ to have our lives manifested. But Paul said we labor that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him and dear young people, I would just commend you to cover it in your own mind. The sense of the Lord's approval in your pathway. It's like the Whitestone, and it's a blessed thing to go on there, sometimes misunderstood when others discourage you.
Dissatisfied to have the Lord's approval according to his word, and just to go on, I believe Caleb had this sense in his soul and it sustained him.
And sooner the time comes that he enters the land and he comes to this place where the giants were because it tells us courageous Arba, which Arbor was a great man among the Anakins. Now that is the great giants that lived there. And this was really the city of those giants. And so when he entered the land, instead of seeking out the easiest place, here's a sign to perhaps the most difficult play.
And why was this? Well, God always put faith to the test.
He always put faith to the test, and in all perhaps that you make a decision today that you're going to follow the Lord. And I hope that each one of us will have some decision made in our hearts so that we really do want to follow him. And we may be surprised that the Lord will bring us then to the city of giants. He'll be along some obstacles who arise that just seems almost insurmountable. And you say, why didn't when I wanted to follow the Lord, why didn't he make it easy?
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He didn't make it easy for Caleb, did he? When he got entered the land, the part that's assigned to him is perhaps we might say it a little difficult because if we're leaning upon the Lord, he is able to undertake for us. And so here we find him and the Lord gives him the victory over these great giants. The city is destroyed, as we would find in another place, and the name of the place has changed. The name of the place is changed to Hebron.
And I understand the word Hebron means friendship. Friendship isn't that very lovely because it's great to City of Giants now. It's a place of friendship. It's a lovely thing, as we said in the beginning of our meetings.
Have the friendship of those who speak to follow the Lord. I am a companion of all them that fear thee, and of them that keep thy precepts. He didn't call it Hebron when it was occupied by the giant, because it says in James the friendship of the world is in the tea with God. We ought to consider this world under the power of Satan as being in the arms of the wicked one, and we have to form friendships with them.
But we can form friendships with those who walk by faith.
And what real and blessed friendships these can be. What lasting friendships?
I like to think as I meet one and another at meetings like this. Oh, isn't it grand to think they're going to be my friends for all eternity? We're not forming a temporary friendship that's only going to last a little while, but every one of you dear young people who belong to Christ.
We're going to share the glory together. We're going to remember this meeting at Toledo. The friendship that began here is going to go on, and I believe 2. For speaking a moment ago about what it says in Revelation 2. I will give him a whitestone, and in the stone a new name written which no man nor saving he that receiveth it. I believe there will be a special joy that we will share together.
In the glory and company with Christ and with one another, in the measure in which there was faithfulness down here. Let me put it this way. Don't you think Paul and Silas will have a special joy as they talk together in heaven of that night they spent in the prison of Philippi? Oh, I'm sure they will. And don't you think on on on a difference, will say to Paul.
False. And Paul, do you remember that time I found you in Rome? What a nice time we had there together.
Now that will be peculiar to the path of faith. It even tells us in Revelation chapter three that if we are content in this world to keep His word and not deny his name, he says that those who reject that half it says I'll make them to come and worship before thy seed, and to know that I have loved thee. It doesn't mean they'll worship us, but it means that they'll someday have to acknowledge that the past of wholly following the Lord.
The path of giving him his rightful place was really the only worthwhile path, the only thing that really counted. And so, although his friendship abide forever, me that doeth the will of God abideth forever, I sometimes said. But I think this is even a little encouragement in marriage, You know, a marriage is given of God. There are many natural joys in marriage that some of us have shared and enjoyed.
But her, married to those natural joys, belong to this earth. But there's something that we can have even them in the companionship of marriage.
And that is to enjoy the Lord together, To serve the Lord together. Don't you think a quill on Priscilla will have something very special? They weren't just a nice married couple, they were a couple that opened their home and had meetings in their homes. They were a couple that served the Lord together and I'm sure that will be a recollection to enjoy. And so let me say to the young couples, don't just think about the natural joy is there right and proper in their place, but remember those things that are done together for the Lord.
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That part of our life is going to abide he that doeth the will of God.
Abide us forever.
Well, soon we find here that he goes in and he processes this. He finds the true ground of friendship, shall I say changes the name of Curtis Arda to Hebron, and that is his dwelling place. Oh, May God grant that this might be an encouragement to us, but now we see how his life becomes a blessing to others. If you'll turn over with me to Judges, the Book of Judges.
And the first chapter.
And the 11Th 1St.
San Francisco went against the inhabitants of Deborah, and the name of Deborah before was Kerja Seifer.
And Caleb said he that smideth courageous Feifer, and taketh it to him, will I give AXA my daughter to wife? And Osmio the son of Kenneth, Caleb younger brother, took it. And he gave him AXA his daughter, the wife, and came to pass when she came to him, that she moved him to ask if her father feels, and he lighted off her ***. And Caleb said unto her, What wilt thou?
And he said unto him, Gave me a blessing, For thou hast given me a South land, give me also springs of water. And Caleb gave her the upper spring, and another spring.
Now we find that Caleb's life had an effect upon others. Caleb was now an old man.
But we find him his life having an effect upon his younger brother Osmil. And this is very lovely to see. The effect that this man had upon his younger brother sometimes is the very hardest thing to have an effect upon those who are nearest to us in the relationships of life. But I always think it's very lovely here to see how that has off meal. The younger brother had watched his older brother.
He must have had his hard touch. He must have seen the reality of it, because it tells us in the passage that we read there in numbers or in Joshua. I should say that when he came back with the report, he said she gave the report according to what was in his heart.
It wasn't just Park, you know. It was in his heart. And I expect that Osmio often watched his older brothers. What was it going to be like? Was he really going to be able to send all the difficulties of the wilderness? Was he going to be able to stand up a lot against all the misunderstandings when the others tried to discourage the people? And without to discourage him, was he really going to live up to his word when he entered the land and be willing to try and possess the place where the giant were? Well, he was being watched. None of us liveth to himself.
That no man dies to himself had dear young people. We may say a lot, but our lives have much more impact than what we say. They both should go together, and with Caleb they did go together, but he said, and the life he lived seemed to correspond. And his younger brother watched him. And I say again, he knew him pretty well. People that live in our homes watched us a little more closely than even others in the meanings. They know all our shortcomings.
All these different ups and downs of life and here isn't it lovely to see that ask me All is encouraged by what he has seen in his brother Caleb. And now tells us here that Caleb said that whoever would overcome this place called Kurja fever to him, would he give access his daughter to wife. I know he's an interesting name to this meaning to this courage off sea, for that means the city of books.
That's a very interesting thing in this day of education.
It tells us, you know in the end of the book of Ecclesiastes, how the making of books there is no end and much study is a weariness to the flesh. And I suppose there never, never was a time. If Solomon noticed it in his day, it doesn't come, didn't compare with today.
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The Princess can hardly keep up with the books that are coming off and you dear young people as you go to school are brought into contact with all this that is coming off the press.
It's the city of books today. This world is the City of Books. You're going to the bookstore. It's just full of books, isn't that? And can you overcome? You read this and you read that and you're feeling this way. In one way when you read one book. They're swayed in another way when you read another book.
And you just say talk, and I know everybody's got a different opinion and you'll just find that the city of books is just so difficult. And I say again, in this day of great education, it is courageous, Seaford. But here we find who was going to smite the city of books, who was going to be able to get the answer in a little school full of different ideas and all kinds of different sorts of man.
How are we going to choose and know the right path?
How are we going to do it? The man of faith off meal rises up encouraged by what he had seen in Caleb, and he smites the city of books. Now that is, he overcame. I don't say that you don't have to read a great deal of books as you go to school. I know that you have to study all kinds of things that you would just assume, not have to study, and it's hard sometimes to know how much you should read and how much you shouldn't read.
In a certain sense, we have to be measurably acquainted with this world about are we overcomers, or do they overcome us?
We were reminded this morning in Second Corinthians, it says, casting down reasoning and every thought.
Thought there, and every high thing that exhausted itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. So Caleb went up against this city, and he smoked Kerja, and he changed the name of the place. He called it Bieber DEBIR.
And I understand that word means Oracle. And dear young people, you'll never overcome the city of books unless you hold this book here in high esteem. My father used to have a little thing that I like to repeat, he said. Every book that I read, I judge but one book.
And that one book is the Bible. I don't judge it. It judges me. And unless you and I are content to judge everything that we read at school or after bookshelves, and once we are content to take it and compare it with God's Word, the city of Brooks is going to overcome us. We're going to have our ideas conforming to this world.
And it tells us. In Romans 12 it says.
I defeat you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, as she presents your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your intelligence, service, and be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove. What is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God? How are you going to get these wrong ideas that are constantly shown in your mind in the city of Books?
How you're going to get rid of them? How are you going to be able to creating things and sort things out properly? All dear young people, our minds are transformed when we look at things from God's viewpoints. And I urge upon you test everything you read by the word of God. Accept this as God's revelation. It doesn't have to be brought up to date. The truth never has to be brought up to date because the truth is the truth.
And it always is the truth. And the Lord Jesus is the truth. And the Bible also says sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. Well, Caleb overcame. I at least asked. Neil overcame and he triumphs over the city. Change the name of it. And to him there was one book. I hope there's one book. I don't mean that we don't enjoy the ministry. Thank God for the ministry.
That we receive. But even at all ministry, when I say this afternoon, please test it by the Oracle. If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God. And so here's how he overcame. Here's what he renamed the city. And then what happened? He got a Good Wife, didn't he? He got a Good Wife. And you know you'll never get the right partner unless you let God decide it And in the light of his word.
00:50:27
And so it's nice to see that he got a fine wife, a wife that was really a blessing to him.
Wise. That moved him. You know, there's a saying. The world never underestimate the power of a woman.
And then we find in the in the Garden of Eden, we find that it was Eve who moved Adam, and he partook of what was forbidden. But here we find one that moves her husband. But he moved him in the right way. And you girls can have a tremendous effect upon the boys, but be sure you move them in the right way. What did she do? What effect did she have upon Osmio had been affected by what he had seen in Caleb.
Caleb had been affected by what he saw in Joshua. Joshua had been affected by what he saw and Moses. And so it goes on. And now we find he moves him to ask a field. And so they come. I take it together. And Caleb said unto her, What wilt thou? She said, You've given me a tough land, but I need refreshments. I need that which will refresh my soul. I guess, dear young people, is a dry and thirsty lamb. We can never go on happily in our Christian lives.
We can neither go on happily in our married lives unless we have a constant source of refreshment.
We need something to help us. Everywhere in the world, marriages are breaking up.
Sadly, saving among Christians, we see this sort of thing creeping in. And why? Well, be sure that when your home is set up, now that you have the upper strain and the nether sprain, and that you value this. And so we find here in this place called the Oracle, why she asked for the upper spring. So I like to think of that as Christ and glory and the blessed, that the Lord Jesus, our precious Savior, is up there in the glory.
There he is at the right hand of God, What an encouragement to us. There were those trembling disciples in the 28th chapter of Matthews, going out into a hostile world. And the Lord Jesus said to them, all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go therefore, lying with you always. What an encouragement, The upper springs, and then the nether springs, does not speak to your heart of the pathway of the Lord Jesus.
He walked the path before you and I. He knows all that we have to meet. He was a boy. He was a young person. He knows all that you have to meet in life and he knows how to sustain your soul and help you. His pathway is the example. The secret of godliness is the pathway of the Lord Jesus here in this world. So here's a here's a girl accent. She moves her husband.
And Fiasco Fields. And she asked, Father. She said, you've given me a field. Give me also springs of water. She got more than she asked for. She just asked for springs. But he gave her the upper springs and the Nether springs. And now we see how this is going to have its effect. Now with Osmiel, what a blessing this was in this home. Here's a home that is set up in the right way. The City of Books has been overcome.
He's been encouraged by the proper kind of friendship. And now here's a home set up, and here is 1 encouraging the others, the wife encouraging the husband. And may I say to you girls, he encouraged the boys, He encouraged your husband to follow the Lord. It's easy, you know, to get occupied with a home and things that pass away, and they're right in their proper place. But let us have proper priorities in our lives.
May Christ be the real object. May we desire to always maintain in our homes that the upper and another spring now just one more passage before we close in the third chapter of Judges.
The ninth verse.
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And when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer to the children of Israel, who delivered them even asked me all the son of Kinas Caleb younger brother, and the spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he judged Israel, and went out to war. And the Lord delivered Shushan, rich Asian king of the Mesopotamia, into his hands, And his hand prevailed against.
Recipient.
Lamb had rest 40 years, an off meal the son of Kenna's died. Smoothness life here what we see about.
The Frost meals Here's a home that has been set up for the Lord and now we find that off meal.
Becomes a blessing as we were mentioning none of the service to himself here, this young man, now he becomes a blessing to others. People came to him and he was a judge. It doesn't mean so much of his punishing people, but people came to him and said, I feel what about this? Ask you what about that? And ask me. All had learned by experience in the path of faith. He had a helpful wife who had encouraged Kim. No. Isn't it nice to see his life becoming a blessing?
And 40 years of his life. It says the Lamb had rest from war. Oh dear young people, I don't know how soon the Lord will come. I hope he comes very, very soon. But he may leave us here a little bit longer. And I love to look into your faces. He feels that if the Lord leaves us here, there's a place of usefulness for you. As it was mentioned in the morning here, who can tell what what will happen as the Lord removes the ones who are older, 1 by 1.
There is a place for you to fulfill. May the Lord grant that we will profit by these things and that our lives will become a blessing to others. Who can tell the blessing that our life will be? As I say, with Joshua it seemed more of a public leadership type, whereas Osmiel and with Caleb it seemed perhaps more of a quiet sight. But here we find that their lives became a blessing.
May the Lord grant that your life and mine will be a blessing among the people of God.
The Pew dear young people will help and encourage others. You're meeting many new friends here at the meeting and you're going to have an impact upon them. They're going to have an impact upon you. Wouldn't it be lovely if this became the turning point for you? Remember that turning point with Caleb and how that could change That took place in his life when he went in with the spies affected his life for so long afterwards.
Made him a blessing to others. Let him set up in the land in the very place where there were giants. Led him to be such a blessing. Oh, May God grant that we'll learn something from this. For his glory and for her own blessing, and for the blessing of others. The time is short for young people. The Lord Jesus wants us to live to please him in the little time that remains to us until he comes.
I've often said the scripture says the rest of our time. I don't know how long it is.
You don't know how long it is, but we can see grace that we should live the rest of our time.
To the will of God.
So we're saying #290.
We are seeing 290 the first verse and the third verse and the last verse versus 1/3 and 5/2/90.
Thursday.
Night
Gospel—C.E. Lunden
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
General Meetings, Toledo, November 1976. Gospel by Brother Lundeen.
Shall we sing together him #10, him #10?
There is a Savior on High in the Glory, a Savior who suffered on Calvary St.
A savior is willing to save. Now as ever, his arm is almighty.
His love great and free.
Second verse, that dear loving Savior who lives in the glory this world once rejected and nailed to the tree.
Are all the derision they circled around him? And all this he suffered from sinners like the those hours of darkness he suffered 4 sinners.
On Calvary's cross, all forsaken alone while making atonement and bearing the judgment are ended, and now he's on high on the throne #10.
So he turned to Genesis chapter one for a verse.
In the beginning of In the beginning, God created heaven and the earth, and the earth was without form and void and darkness.
Was upon the face of the deep.
And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light.
And there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good. And God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called night.
We have a verse that goes like this.
Who commanded the light?
To shine out of darkness, have shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge but the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
We're going to speak tonight a little bit about.
The light and the darkness.
And we'll use some scriptures that show night scene.
And the first one will be in the third chapter of John.
John's Gospel chapter 3.
There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jew.
The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou, artist teachers, come from God.
But no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.
Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto these.
Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom.
Of God.
Now a verse in Luke's Gospel chapter 5.
Verse 36.
Luke 5 and 36.
And he spake all through a parable unto them, No man put us at peace.
Of a new garment upon an old, If otherwise, then both the new maketh the rent, and the peace was taken out of the new agreeeth not with the old.
And no man put his new wine into old bottles. Help the new wine will burst the bottles and be filled, and the bottles shall bury. But new wine must be put into new bottles, and both are preserved. No man also having drunk old wine straightway.
Knew for, he said. The old is better.
Now a verse in First Peter.
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First Peter, the first chapter and verse 23.
Being born again.
Not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the Word of God.
With liver and abideth forever.
We have in these.
Passages.
What is connected with this night scene in?
John 3.
The reason for Nicodemus coming at night? We don't know.
We know he was a man who was in a certain position in Israel.
Where in it certainly would be a reproach for him to identify himself with Jesus.
But he came at night.
We don't know why.
It might have been because he had remembered that scripture that says both not thyself of tomorrow.
Thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. We don't know why he came.
But he.
And as far as we know, he came in darkness.
Although he was a ruler of the Jews, he came at night.
Because Jesus, a teacher now, this was of course acknowledging something.
That he was calm, a teacher from God.
But still he came in darkness.
Because, dear friend, you may know Jesus as a teacher.
You may know him as a Goodman.
But you're still in darkness.
You still don't have life.
And so when Nicodemus proposes this question to the Lord, the Lord doesn't answer his question according the way he thought.
But the Lord says to him.
Verily, verily, I sinned to thee, except a man be born again, He cannot see the Kingdom of God.
We learned that.
There are many.
Who take the position?
That if they know God in an altered way, everything will be all right.
There are thousands myriads of souls have been baptized, and they think everything is all right.
If you would ask him about Jesus, they would say he's a Goodman, He's a teacher, but they're still endorsing.
And they don't have eternal life.
Because there has to be a new birth.
There has to be a complete game.
In the passage in Luke we find that.
You can't take a piece of a new garment and put it on the old.
Because the rent will only be worth.
Just a picture of man's character before God and by adding a little bit of the Bible to it.
Will only make things worse.
You can't take an old bottle, which was of course the skin in those days.
And put new wine in it because the new wine would burst the bottle.
And the wine and bottle with both ferry.
He must be born again.
We read in Peter by.
How a man can be born again, and that's by the incorruptible word of God.
In other words, by faith simply believing God's word.
And he says in John, Verily, verily, I say to you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me half everlasting life.
But shall not come into judgment, but is fast from death unto life.
Now Jesus was a teacher.
But all, my friend, will let you know him as the Savior. It will do you no good.
You'll never spend your eternity where He is unless you know him. A savior.
In Christ, Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
00:15:04
Senate But though we find in this first night scene a man who was in darkness and he meets Jesus and he's told he must be born again, that's the first lesson we have to learn, dear friend.
You must be born again.
And the way to be born again is through the incorruptible Word of God, believing it in simple faith.
You can't patch up the old character. You can't mingle the new joys with the old. Hey, you'll lose everything.
You must be born again. There's no other way.
Now you're trying with me to.
So, Luke's Gospel.
The 23rd chapter.
We'll start with the 23rd bird. And they were in stood with loud voices requiring that he might be crucified, And the voices of their men of the chief priests prevailed.
The pilot gave Stanton that it should be as they required, and he released unto them him, not for sedition and murder was cast into prison, whom they had desired, but he delivered Jesus to their will.
And as they led him away, they laid hold upon 1 diamond of sirenians coming out of the country, and on him they laid the cross that he might bear it after Jesus.
Verse 33. And when they were come to the place which is called Calvary, there they crucified him and the manufacturers, one on the right hand and the other on the left.
Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.
44th 1St and it was about the 6th hour.
And there was darkness over all the earth.
Until the 9th hour.
And the sun was darkened.
And the darkness.
He called night.
The darkness.
He called night over the night.
You'll recall when Moses led the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt that night.
That they were to remember that night.
They were not to forget that night.
Oh, what a night that was of the Passover.
That delivered the children of Israel.
And here we have a darkness, a night scene, my friend, because the darkness he called night.
Over the night for the Lord Jesus.
Those 3 hours of darkness.
That he went through so that you and I might have the forgiveness of sins.
It's true that it's by faith that we receive it.
But now we're reading about the basis upon which we might have that life and life move.
And here we have there was darkness over all the earth until the 9th hour.
You know the 60th chapter of Isaiah. We are told the darkness shall cover the earth.
Now I'm sure that that will be true in the coming day too, as we see it here, Fulfill the darkness covers the earth.
Yes.
Well, might the sun in darkness hide?
As we sing in that little hymn.
On such an occasion that the whole creation that my friend, what was being accomplished?
The Lord Jesus was bearing the sins of all those who will believe.
00:20:01
He was passing through that night, that darkness, so that you might have eternal life.
And we see in the first few verses we read that on the part. On your part, it's a question of believing by faith.
But here we find that the Lord Jesus is the one who provided the way whereby you and I might have eternal life.
If we were to read on into the 19th of John, we would see that.
After he had died, a soldier pierced his side with a spear.
And forthwith there came blood and water.
And, my friend, without the shedding of blood, there's no remission of sins.
Nor remission of sins.
The shedding of blood.
And that precious blood.
Was shed through the two and I might have eternal life.
And, dear friends, God has commanded all men everywhere to repent.
And believe the gospel.
And he's appointed a day, and when he will judge this world in righteousness by that man.
That man, Christ Jesus, of whom we've just read on the cross of Calvary.
Are you given witness unto all men that he's raised him from the dead?
Turn this May to the 13th chapter of.
The 30th first reading of Judas.
He then having received the stop when immediately out.
And it was nice.
Good night.
We'll never know this night that Judas entered into.
We'll never know if we're believers, but all my friend, if you're unsaved tonight.
You will enter into the same night that Judas entered into.
You know that Judith, a few moments before was handed to stop.
By the Lord Jesus.
It was a token of friendship.
A token. A special token for a special guest.
And up to the very end, as Judas betrays.
His master.
Having followed him for 3 1/2 years.
And he heard.
Those wonderful words that escaped from his mess.
And yet, Judas.
Turns away.
After being offered that special privilege.
He turns away and he goes out and it was night.
Night, dear friend. Where are you going?
You go out. Are you going out into the night that you're going out to serve that?
Is the day coming when you're going to have to stand before this very person of whom we're reading?
The Lord Jesus.
Can you picture a man whose heart is so cold that he could walk for 3 1/2 years with Jesus?
And then on the night, that's that night.
He would go out after that supper.
That common supper they have with all the disciples who goes out, and it was nice.
Well, you say, that's awful.
Dear friends, you're unsaved tonight. Are you not placing yourself in the very same position as Judas?
Are you going to leave this room tonight and go out into the night because you are making your decision now?
You're deciding now?
Where you're going.
Because you have no promise of tomorrow. All you have is a promise.
Now behold, now is the accepted time.
00:25:04
Now is the day of salvation.
We're going to do another scripture.
For Samuel.
28th chapter, First Samuel.
The fifth verse.
And when Saul saw the hosts of the Philistines, he was afraid.
And his heart greatly trembled. And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord answered him not, neither by dreams, or by Urim, nor by prophets.
Then set Saul unto his servant seeks me a woman that hath a familiar spirit. Then they go to her, inquire of her, and he's serving sudden them. Behold, there's a woman that has the familiar spirit at Endor.
It's all disguised himself and put on other raiment, and he went and two men with him and they came to the woman by night.
During this meeting to Isaiah, the 8th chapter.
Verse 19.
And one they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto Wizards that speaks, and that mutter.
You're not a people speak under their God.
For the living to the dead.
To the law and to the testimony, if they speak not according to this word.
It is because there is no light in them.
And they could pass through it hardly Instead, and hungry shall come to pass it. When they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God in the Supper.
And they shall look under the earth, and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of angry, and they shall be driven through darkness.
We find with Saul this was the end of a course.
Doll is a picture of one who has had every privilege that God should give a man in that day.
Doll with head and shoulders above all the rest.
He was the choice of the people.
When he started out.
As we know too that.
When Goliath came, he was dismayed.
All have no inward moral power to stand.
But David could meet Goliath.
Not all.
And yet Saul was head and shoulders above all, he was the People's Choice.
And is a picture of those today who have had the privileges.
Of Christianity.
Because he had possibly 4 generations that we know of.
A faith behind him?
And yet.
When he was tested, he couldn't stand.
He was tested in several ways. He couldn't stand. And now he comes to his last night. Oh, he had done many mighty deeds.
But now we find that because of disobedience to the word of God.
Rejecting the Lord, turning aside from that profession that he'd made.
He comes to the end of his course.
And he finds himself surrounded by the enemy at Gilboa. And what is he going to do?
Because to God, and God won't answer him.
We've gone too far.
He's gone too far.
Oh my friend, the scripture says, Behold, now is accepted time now is the day of salvation.
00:30:09
Don't think just because your father and mother are saved that it will be all right with you.
You must have a personal acquaintance with the Lord Jesus and have to do about your sins.
For the word of God says, all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.
You will have to meet God and give an account to God.
In that base.
Here he is standing.
It's all.
A Mount Gilboa with his army and he doesn't know what to do.
Until the next picture we see him in the House of the.
Woman that has familiar spirit and he wants to inquire their what to do.
This is the end of the course.
Shall we apply it?
My dear friends are those today who have made Christian profession.
Who are now seeking this very day in which we live, and it's spreading. They're seeking familiar spirits, those who profess Christianity, they're turning to these things for life because they've rejected the Christ of God. It's the end of the court.
Over the night, this was the last night saw.
A man who had been anointed as the king of Israel. He spends his last night.
In the House of a witch. Think of it.
Had all the privileges that anyone in Israel could have desired.
Annoyed is a king, and this is the way he ends his course.
The last night. How are you going to end your course, dear friend?
Because the end of your course may come at any time.
You don't know how long you'll have in this world.
But you have the opportunity now.
Of receiving the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, you must be born again.
The old garment and the old bottle will do. They have to be new?
And besides, there's no capacity in that old bottle for the new things.
You must be born again.
Well, we find then in Luke's gospel again another night sing.
In the 17th chapter.
I.
In the 34th verse.
I tell you in that night.
There shall be two men in one bed. The one shall be taken and the other shall be left.
Now, I'm sure that there are those who can expound this as to its correct placing in scripture prophecy, but we're not interested in that now.
We're interested in the meaning of this in the gospel for us tonight, because I'm sure that this will be true in the reverse as well.
That is, there's a time coming, dear friends.
Well, there will be two together.
And one will be taken home to glory and the other be left.
But there is a time too that this verse refers to.
But there will be two together, and 1:00 will be taken out for judgment, and the other on the left.
What does he say? I tell you, I tell you.
In that night there shall be two men in one bed. The one should be taken.
And the others shall be left.
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Dear friend, are you going to be taken among those who are caught away into the heavens when Christ comes? Are you going to be taken?
Or are you going to be left here for judgment?
So how solemn?
Autonomous is.
There's a young man in Los Angeles who's in the Navy. She's on a destroyer.
And he was in a in a harbor, and there was a sudden attack by the enemy.
And the Destroyer was all but blown to bit, and as he stood on the deck of the Destroyer.
He looked to see his partner.
His partner was cut off just like that, standing right beside him.
One taken and the other left.
I don't know whether his partner was saved or not.
But that's this death from the present life that, my friend, there's a day coming, but you're going to have to answer to God for all your sins.
And you'll have to give an account of all the deeds done in the body.
What would you do if you're taken tonight in that night? I tell you, in that night, whenever that night come, there shall be two men in one bed. The one should be taken and the other left.
So I ask you tonight, Are you ready to be taken? The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses from all sins. Neither is there any salvation, any other.
But there is no other name given unto heaven among men whereby we must.
Say.
Man mocked. You know the God's word.
And in the coming day when the gospel of the Kingdom goes out to Israel's neighbors.
There'll be a mocking Notice the 21St chapter of Isaiah.
November 11Th bird.
We believe that this this is the message that goes out from Judah to Esau.
His brother the burden of Duma.
He calls to me out of fear that beat him.
Watchmen, what of the night?
What men? What of the night?
The watchman says the morning cometh.
And also the night.
If you will inquire, inquire you return.
Tom.
So what? The one from the mocking the Watchmen.
Is marketing.
It's one of the sons of Jacob that's inviting his brother.
To have that blessing of the morning of the millennial day, but he's mocking.
And that country of Edom will be completely disinherited.
Because of their hatred for their brother Jacob.
Where we see them mocking the gospel of the.
This is solemn.
But the same principles going on now, man is mocking the gospel of the grace of God.
A gospel that invites you, dear friends, not to earthly Kingdom, but to be with Christ and glory where he is.
To be associated with Him, to have eternal life through the precious blood that he shed at Calvary's Cross.
And now a tournament made to.
If you please, to Genesis, the 19th chapter.
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We're well acquainted with the story of Lot.
In Sodom.
There was a time when there was a division between.
Abraham and Locke Abraham chose, God gave him rather the country.
Of Hebron, the top of the mountains as far as I could see, to the east and West and North and South.
But Lot was standing there, looking down on the plains blowing, and he fell. A fatal choice choice.
The next thing we see in the setting is Make setting up his hand and then building a house and then sitting in the gate of Sodom.
So we're told plainly the men of Sodom were wicked exceedingly, and sinners before God.
But we find in this chapter.
The last night.
Of Sodom.
And we're told in the 17th chapter, I believe it is of Luke.
That the judgment that came upon Sodom was from heaven.
It's a picture of the judgment that will fall upon Christendom. Those have had every privilege.
That God could ever give man in blessing and rejected it.
And so.
We read from the 12Th verse.
We find that there are two ages that come to Sodom.
At even. At even.
That's the first bird.
And now these men, or angels, they're called men here said unto Lot.
Hast thou hear any beside what a question.
And dear fathers and mothers and brothers and sisters here tonight.
Let this verse come home to your heart and mind.
Half thou here, any besides?
Why?
Son-in-law, son-in-law, and my sons, and my daughters, And whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place.
For we will destroy this place because the cry of them is waxed and great before the face of the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy us.
Hast thou hear any beside?
Oh dear one, do you have anyone here that's unsaved and are you concerned about it?
Does it bother you that there are those who are near and dear to you that are still unsaved?
You get on your face before God for them. Hast thou hear any besides?
All other words for the heart here.
For we will destroy this place.
Judgment is coming.
Here it was the last night of Sodom.
And it's a picture of the last night of Christendom.
When the Lord Jesus comes as a thief.
And judgment fall.
No judgment like this.
It will be out of heaven.
And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said up.
Get you out of this place so the Lord will destroy this city, but he seemed as one that mocked.
And to his sons in law.
It doesn't say they mocked him.
No, it says. He seemed as one that mocked.
Oh, what a word for each one of us here tonight.
We who are Christians.
When we give a testimony, do we seem as one that mocks because of the way we live?
The way we carry ourselves, fathers and mothers, do we seem as one that mocked to our children when we tell them about the things of the Lord?
00:45:07
Because of our ways.
After all, when you sit in the gate of stardom, you can't tell anyone someone's going to burn it up.
They'll say you don't believe that you're sitting in the gate.
No power and testimony.
There's no power in testimony. There was if you and I live in the world.
Take our part in this poor world. There's no power and testimony for Christ.
To our loved ones. To our neighbors.
He seemed as one that marched on to his sons in law.
So what a solemn thing it is.
To bring up children to this end.
To die in Sodom.
Solemnism.
Just what's going to happen, friends?
Because of the Lord Jesus comes tonight, they'll all be left behind.
If they haven't received the Lord Jesus Christ as their own personal savior.
And when the morning rolls, then the angels hastened lost things. Arise, take thy wife and thy two daughters, which are here, lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city. And while he lingered, the man laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters, the Lord being merciful unto him, and they brought him forth.
And set him without the city.
Now he's outside of the city.
But you'll notice that expression while he lingered. While he lingered.
Oh, how many voices there are in this chapter for our hearts tonight while he lingers? What does it mean to linger in the sense that lot lingers?
Was his heart in the city?
Or was his heart up there?
What about Abraham?
Who dwelled in that pure atmosphere?
Hebron.
We were told it meant fellowship or communion.
So I bless them.
And yet Abraham had his concern as well.
Because Abraham was praying all night while this was going on.
As we read in the previous chapter.
He was in the presence of the Lord all night.
Because.
He knew what was going to happen.
Lot didn't know until the Angel sold him. Abraham knew already.
Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?
You know, the one who's walking with God knows the mind of God.
Today we have the whole truth revealed to us.
Of what God is about to do.
Hello dear friend, you're invited tonight.
You have that invitation, come unto me, all you that labor, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
There's no need of your dying in Sodom.
You'll notice that they brought him without the city.
It took one Angel to destroy thousands of Assyrians in one night.
But it seems like it took two angels to drag the lot and his family out of stock.
To think of it.
So firmly entrenched in this place, this wicked place.
Oh, what a voice this is 2 angels. While he lingered, they laid hold upon him.
The Lord being merciful unto him.
And they brought him forth and set him without the city. And dear friend, that's why the gospel is being preached.
Still today, because God is merciful, there's one thing that you need if you're unsaved your friend. Enough mercy.
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Mercy.
There's no use of talking about Jesus as a good teacher.
That won't do you any good as far as your soul is concerned.
You'll have to speak of them as your savior.
You'll have to trust in that work of Calvary that we read about.
When he died, when he said it's finished and when the soldiers fear, put the spear on his side.
And then that blessed savior rose and went on high. And he's coming back to judge, as we read in Acts 17.
Very same savior can be yours savior tonight or he'll be your judge tomorrow.
God being merciful unto him, And now notice the instructions.
And you stand to pass, when they had brought him forth abroad, that he should escape for thy life.
Look not behind me.
Neither say thou in all the flames.
Escape to the mountains, lest thou be consumed.
Now these are the three things that characterize Christendom today.
Unbelievable.
Escape for thy life. Look not behind thee either. Stay thou in all the plains.
Now lost wife violated all three.
But we noticed in the mean time.
That.
Lot tries to argue with the Lord about where he's to go through that Strange.
He wants to go to a little city door.
He was told.
To escape to the mountains.
I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil takes me and I die.
And the Lord even granted that to Lot.
And now it says.
The 23rd verse. The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered in the door. Then the Lord reigned upon stardom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven. And he overthrew those cities and all the plains and all the inhabitants of the city and that which grew up on the ground. But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.
Lot's wife did not die in the judgment.
In the city.
He died in a singular judgment outside of the city.
He's characterized by disobedience and unbelief.
She stands as a monument of Saul.
To warn those who would afterwards live ungodly, Peter says.
It is epistle, a killer of Saul.
And now I'm closing. I want to turn to one more verse in Revelation.
I.
What a solemn judgment upon Sodom.
And Gomorrah.
We read in the Gospel of Luke that all was destroyed the.
Destroyed all. Everything was gone.
But now we have a lovely picture in Revelation 21.
It speaks of the city and reading at the end of the 21St verse.
Of Revelation 21 and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.
And I saw no temple therein for the Lord God almighty in the Lamb, or the temple of it.
00:55:02
And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it, for the glory of God did lighten it.
And the Lamb is the light thereof, and the nations of them which are saved.
Shall walk in the light of it.
And the kings of the earth to bring their glory and honor into it, really should be unto it. And the gates of it shall not be shutted all by day, for there shall be no night there.
We invite you dear friends tonight.
To that city where there is no light, no night.
In the book of Jude, those who have rejected an apostatize the truth of Christianity.
We're told very plainly in the book of Jews.
That for them has reserved the blackness of darkness forever.
And which will you choose tonight?
Because you're making your choice now.
You're either choosing that place where there's no night there, dear friends.
Or you're making your choice.
With their blackness and darkness forever.
Well, you'll have to give an account of every sin done in the body.
But for the believers, their sins and iniquities.
I remember no more.
Which is your choice tonight?
Which is your choice? And as you go out that door, dear one, which is your choice?
Will it be Jesus?
Are you going to take the course of Judas?
Are you going to take the course of Saul?
What is your choice tonight?
Shall we sing that little hymn #36?
I'll read the chorus. Why not tonight?
Why not? Tonight thou would be saved. Why not do not.
When All is Spent
Gospel—E. Wakefield
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
General Meetings, Toledo, November 1976. Gospel by Brother Wakefield.
Bring together #2 The second him on the sheep come to Jesus, gently calling, ye with tear and soil, oppressed with your guilt, however appalling, come, and I will give you rest for your sin. He once has suffered on the cross the work was done, and the word by God now uttered to each weary soul.
Is come hymn #2.
And I will get it right.
Everyone has fallen.
Slow.
Across the Star Wars white sun.
From the worst Lord God, now after.
May now be long.
Time.
Never die far.
Without that landing and.
The Father.
From the.
The slangers for you come.
Translator.
We saw our heads in prayer.
Might we sing in the 1St and the last verses a #4? Christ is the savior of sinners the 1St and the last verses of #4.
So I swear to God, blessings of grace, I shall, I tell his friends.
This is the savior for me.
Thank you.
Have sinners like me.
Having his life or heart land.
I like to look 1St at the 15th chapter of loop for one verse.
Before we turn back to it in a few moments.
Luke, Chapter 15.
And the 22nd verse.
But the father said to his servant, Bring forth the best Rd.
And put it on him in the 22nd chapter.
Of Matthew for one other verse.
And the 11Th verse.
And when the king came in to see the guest.
He saw there a man which had not.
On a wedding garment, then in the 27th chapter of Matthew.
And the 28th verse.
And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe. When they had planted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a Reed in his right hand. And they bowed the knee before him and mocked him, saying, Hail, king of the Jews, And they spit upon him, and took the Reed and smote him on the head after. And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him.
And put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him. Verse 45.
Now from the 6th hour there was darkness over all the land until the 9th sound. And about the 9th hour Jesus cried with a loud voice saying Eli, Eli, Lama Sebastiani. That is to say, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And the 28th chapter?
And verse 5.
And the Angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye, for I know that she seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said, Come, see the place.
Where the Lord lay? Well, dear friends, you've noticed probably in reading these verses.
And the first passage we read, we read about the best role being put on to the prodigal son. The second scripture we found a man that dared to enter into the presence of the king without wearing a wedding garment. And the third scripture we have.
Them putting on the Lord Jesus, a scarlet Rome. Then we read about the three hours of darkness when the Savior.
00:10:10
Bore my sins.
And his own body on the tree was made thin for me, and received from the hand of God.
The judgment which I deserve and then the last scripture we read.
Shows that the savior was number longer, dead but alive.
Now we'll consider first of all this well known 15 chapter of the Gospel of Luke.
My friends, I like to remind you that we come to these conferences quite often. I don't know how many there are in a year, maybe there's a dozen or so. And pretty well, the larger conferences, the same people are pretty well here. And I'm sure that in the audience like this was probably 700. Maybe here around that figure there's some here that are on the way to hell. There's some here tonight that have.
The Lord Jesus came, they'd be left right here in Toledo.
And they lost forever and have to spend eternity. And the dungeons of the damned enabled us. Say I knew John 316. I can quote in the very dungeons of the dams. John 524, I know the way to heaven. I know how I could have got there, but I put it off.
I was dreaming, you know, on Thursday.
I want to get a haircut.
And the Barber, a Jewish gentleman, started talking to me about the elections.
In the province, the Quebec, and he said, you know, it's a sad thing.
That so many English people in this problem and so many Jews are dreaming.
And he said they're trying to pretend that everything is all right. But he said not me. The very day after the election took place, I had all my money transferred to the City of Ottawa.
And he said, my friend, you know, think I'm kind of strange, but I'm ready. He said I am ready for what's going to happen when they seize the money of this problem. Well, he said everybody around me is dreaming. Or they're saying, don't worry, nothing is going to happen. Well, I said, Sir, that's interesting. But what about eternity? That's what they're doing. They're all dreaming.
They're all dreaming. And they're saying nothing's going to happen. Everything is going to be the same. We're going to get out of the mess we're in. Why, there'll be some genius come and fix everything up, and there's nothing to worry about. And he said, Exactly. They're dreaming, my friend. And that you may be dreaming on the very brink of hell, right on the very doorstep of hell you may be dreaming tonight. And so I trust that by the grace of God and by the leading of the Holy Spirit of God.
What we say to you tonight may be used to bring you to Christ, to bring you to the Savior of sinners.
Before it is forever too late, now this well known parable the Lord Jesus told.
Which I believe was really one part of three parables. We're only going to consider the one about the prodigal son. It starts at verse 11 and it tells the very same story that young man tonight and young ladies, and sad to say, young men and young ladies and Christian homes are faced with they want to get away from home. That seems to be the ambition of so many young people today. Let's get away from home.
And be on our own and live in an apartment where we'll have nobody to keep after.
Where we can live exactly the way we want to, and do exactly the things we want to do without our mother and father always preaching at us and warning us and trying to spoil our enjoyment of life. That's exactly what this young man did.
And so down he goes to the far country.
And it tells us in the 13th verse, not many days after the younger son gathered all together and took his journey into a far country.
And there wasted his substance with riotous living. Now, my friends, these are the words.
00:15:03
Of the Lord Jesus Christ. And just in this one verse, he really describes what exactly has happened happening today in North America. This is exactly what's happening. We're going into a far country away from God.
Away from the Bible. Away from everything to do with God's realities and God's eternity.
And God, truth. And there in that far country, they're wasting their substance with riotous living. Well, we know what that means, don't we? That means they're taking their God-given health and their God-given strength and all the abilities that God has given them, and they're just throwing them into the hands of the devil, and they're wasting their substance with riotous living.
But I want to warn you tonight, my friend, if you're here and you're living that kind of a life, there's an end coming to that kind of thing.
I know I believe that the Father who I believe speaks of God here.
Sent into that far country a famine, and the Lord Jesus says about this famine.
In verse 14 and when he had spent all. Now you know what that means, don't you?
And we I know what it means too. When everything was gone, then the Father sent into that country a mighty famine. He sent the famine. Now why did he send that famine? Was it to punish this young man? I believe it was to show that young man has nothingness, to show that young man his need of his father, to show that young man.
Later on in the chapter The Father's Heart and the Father's Love. And so it tells us.
That he began to be in want.
Well, I suppose many of us tonight who belong to the Lord have been to hospitals, different other places. And we've met young men just like this and young ladies and older people, and they're in want, and they have no more enjoyment of life because they're in want. And everything they had is gone. All the resources have come to an end, and there they are and want, and they're going on to eternity and they're miserable.
And they're unhappy. Maybe you're unhappy tonight. Maybe you'll say I wish to God that I could get rid of my sins. I went to God that I could get this question settled between my soul and God himself.
So what happens here? Well, it tells us in the 15th verse. And here is human reason, my friend. He went and joined himself.
To a citizen of that country.
And he sent them into his field to feed swine. Now this citizen of this country is the devil.
You see, this man was going down. Man's history is downward. All my friends believe, Not those.
To tell you that man's history is upward, but morally and spiritually, man's history is downward until he beats the God of the Bible, who saves his precious soul through the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ, through the cleansing power of that precious blood, and gives them a brand new life, a new beginning, so that the poor Sinner through faith in Christ is now a new creature.
Or a new creation in Christ Jesus, my friend. How wonderful.
And how blessed. We're going to see more of this later. Now it tells us in the 16th verse.
And he would train her filled his belly.
With the hush that the swine that eat now he's going down lower film, you see his pathway is leading downwards and who allows this pathway to lean down lead downwards. His father arranged all this down he was going. Now he's lower still and he's down reduced.
Be in the company of the swine.
Then he goes down further, and it tells us in the end of the 16th verse, and no man gave unto him All my friends, what a wonderful thing that Jesus and these few verses gives us exactly the history of every man of Adams race without Christ, every man. In these few words that Jesus spoke, we see the history of man. It's a downward path. Down he goes, my friend, and how solemn this is.
00:20:13
Well, I've had the privilege of being in the prisons in the United States and visiting men there. And I've seen some men. They've gone down, down, down. They've gone there. They are as far down as they could go. I've talked to those men. I've heard their testimony. One of them said to me, I'm glad to be able to say that Jesus Christ is my personal savior, too. You see, he came to the end of himself.
Another man told me that I was released from prison on parole and he said I stole a car. I headed to the Canadian border, but I was intercepted by the police and brought back into this prison and thank God I'm here for here. I heard the gospel.
And my friends, as I think of those men in the prison, I think of the children, the young people of those who are Christians, with Christian mothers and fathers who hear this gospel so many times, they just absolutely despise them and they reject it. And God says, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? Now there may be some in this room tonight, because we don't know everybody here.
And you're just like this prodigal. There you are down at the very bottom, and you come into this room tonight. Maybe your parents had to struggle to get you here. But by the grace of God, you've come. And I want to tell you, my friends tonight, with God's help and by the grace of God, the history of this young man, That can be your history tonight. Notice what he says now in the 17th verse and when he came.
To himself.
When he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bred enough in despair, and I perished with hunger. Now he's beginning to turn back towards his father. First of all, he confesses the position he's in. I perish with hunger. I perish. Maybe tonight you're perishing in your sins.
You have to admit, if you are really an honest young man or a young woman or older person, you'd have to say that's true. I perish with hunger. Not physical food, but spiritual food. I perish. I've got so far away from God that I don't even thank God for my food.
And I never pray. I never pray. All my friends, how solemn. I never pray anymore. My mother taught me to pray.
My father taught me to pray, but I quit that long ago and now I perish with hunger. Knows what this young man did. Verse 18. I will arrive. Isn't that wonderful? I will arrive. You know, the Lord Jesus looked at a man and he said, follow me and it says, And he arose and he left off and he followed him. This young man arises.
And he said, I will go to my Father, and we will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee. Now here's his confession. My friend, I want to ask you tonight if you have made this confession in the presence of God, Have you ever been in the presence of God, and said, I have sinned against heaven? And before thee I've never done that. You know, somebody has said, and I believe they're right.
There is no salvation without repentance.
There is no salvation without repentance. Now repentance can't save you, that's for sure. But my friend, repentance is, I believe, taken sides with God against yourself. I wrote to a young man in the prison just before we left Montreal and I said, Robert, you have to come to that place where you say I have sinned against the Lord.
And you're allowed to get down in your knees and acknowledge before him that you are a Sinner for your verses you quote to me. And the thing you say about knowing the Bible will not save your soul, for the Bible cannot save you. It's only Christ that says thank God for the Bible. It's the word of God, but it's Christ that saves my beloved friends. And the word of God turns us to Christ. For Christ is the Savior. He's the only savior.
00:25:11
The only failure that God has for man is the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no other only him. He's the failure of sinners like me. And so it says here.
And are no more worthy in verse 19 to be called thy son. Make me as one of Thy hired servants.
And he arose and came to his father. Notice now his father. This, this. Now begins the story of the Father's love, the story of the love of God. And who could better tell us than the Savior himself? Who could better tell us than the one who came into this world?
Whose heart was filled with love for poor, miserable, hell deserving creatures like you and me. He could tell it out and all its fullness. And so the Savior said, and these words now in verse 20. And he arose and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion and ran.
And fell on his neck snack and kissed him. I understand that. One translation. I don't know which one of his says he covered him with kisses. Isn't that beautiful? This young man who came back to his father was greeted by his father and my friend. The devil loves to tell people you know well. Redemption point has passed for me. I'd like to become a Christian. I'd like to be saved. But I've gone so far that there's no hope.
Brand, listen. That's not true. That's the devil's lie, the Lord Jesus said when he was here. Him that cometh to me. I will and no wise cast out. Absolutely.
There is no man in this world, I believe that gone past redemption point as long as his heart is beating. God loves you, God loves you. Isn't that wonderful That God loves you And that the Lord Jesus came into the world to save sinners down in the gutters, sinners, sinners who sunk down with a very gutter almost of hell. And the Lord Jesus came into the world to die for them, to save them, to take their sins away.
All powerful Savior, beloved friends, who has power to break the verdict change, the very heaviest change of sin that there there are. He's able to break those chains. So he's a powerful living, mighty savior. Well, it tells us now in verse 20, And the sun said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in my state. Now this is solemn, isn't it? He doesn't say now I've sinned before these, but he goes a little further.
And he said, I've sinned in my sight, my dear young man tonight, or a young lady.
Or older person who may be here without Christ.
It's a grand thing to know that you've sinned in the sight of God, that you're guilty. You know, in the courts of this land, they have to have what they call witnesses, and these witnesses have to number at least two or three. One witness is not sufficient, but God doesn't need any witnesses.
The Sinner has sinned in his sight, and he knows, my friend all about you. He knows more about you than you know about yourself, because he sees everything.
Yes, indeed he does. And so this young man, as he got into his father's arms, he realized at last that his father could see him, and his father ran to meet him and his father.
Knew every detail in his life.
Those secret sins, those hidden sins, those thoughts are yours and mine. You know them all, don't you? Maybe you've forgotten, like I have many of them, but God knows them all. And how wonderful it is to have that record cleanse absolutely, spotlessly clean by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. For the Word of God declares so wonderfully that the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son.
Friends of us from all, ALL all sins. Well, now it tells us, going back to our chapter where we started to read at the beginning in the 22nd verse. But the father said to his servants, You see, the young man that makes me as one of I hired servants that father didn't want hired servants. He wanted that boy of his. He was looking for that boy to come back again.
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And here he says to his hired servants, He had servants enough, and God has servants enough, my friends.
The heavens are filled with mighty angels. What God wants is you, my friend, to come yourself. He wants you to trust him and to know that on that cross we're going to have in a humanist what the Lord Jesus said on that cross, or the Sinner who will have them? Well, he says bring forth the bathroom. I've enjoyed this thought that the best robe was for the worst. Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that just like Donald, the very best for the very worst.
Bring forth the best robe and put it on him.
And put a ring on his hand. God's never ending eternal love or it's the love of Christ, my friends, God Maximus love. We can trace it through the word of God in the 13th chapter of John, that eternal love that he loved him unto the end. Having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them under the end. In the 15th chapter, John verse nine, we have that divine love Speaking of the Lord's people, of course.
As my father hath loved me, so have I loved you continually in my love. Then we go on and we find that personal love. And Galatians 2 and 20 the Son of God who loved me, said the Apostle Paul, and gave himself for me that mighty maxless love of God found throughout the whole Bible, God's matchless love and this ring that the Father puts.
On the hand of the sun shows us that matchless, unmeasurable, eternal, never ending love of God, how blessed this is. And shoes on his feet. Isn't this wonderful? You know, I am told that in those days, the servants.
Went barefooted, but the sons were wore shoes. And so here was the sun coming back. He had to wear shoes. He was a son, He wasn't a servant. And secondly, it tells us of a new standing, no longer connected with this world as we had in this afternoon. No longer connected with this wicket world that's going on to judgment, but now a new standing, and that standing is in Christ.
And the believer in the Lord Jesus stands before God.
Dressed in Christ and nothing else will suit God absolutely. Your good work, your good deeds are not acceptable to God. You must come and receive from this giving, loving God what He has for you in His matchless love. Now there may be a girl here tonight.
Your father and mother have prayed for you, a young man whose father and mother are praying for right now. Their heads may be bowed. They may be praying for their children. I suppose there are some here. God loves you. Just imagine, and I like to say this again and again and again, that God has blocked the road to hell with the cross of Christ. Isn't that wonderful, my friend? Are you going to pass by this matchless, eternal love of God?
That match with love that God has for sinners. And so then he says in the 23rd verse and bring hit her the fatted calf and kill it, kill it and let us.
Eat and be married. Let us notice this. Let us who is this? The Father and this returned Son? Let us Isn't it wonderful that God brings us into fellowship with His beloved Son, so that as his children, dear Christians, he can say, let us eat?
And be married. And you know it tells us in the next verse, For this my son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found.
Those are the solemn words of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was dead. Dead. Is that what you are tonight, a spiritual corpse? And you say, well, you know, I don't enjoy the Bible.
And I find these conferences sort of boring. I like to get into the meals, you know, and stay in the motel and look like a king for a couple of days. But when it comes to these Bible readings, I got no enjoyment of that. Your dad, my friends, no life towards God. Doesn't that trouble you? Doesn't that exercise you, a young person? Why? You're not interested in God's things because you're dead in sin and then you're lost. Lost anything of anything worse?
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And to be lost. Lost. Are you lost tonight? In whom? The God of this world.
Has blinded the minds of them that believe not to those that are lost of our gospel is hit. It is hit to those that are lost.
Lost and sinned. Lost. Oh, my friend, may these words think down into your hearts that man without Christ.
No matter how good a life you may be living, he's dead and he's lost and he's going into eternity to meet God about his sins. What a solemn thing. And then it says and they began to be married. They began to be married. Earlier in the chapter the young man began to be in want. But here he and his father, they began to be married seeking of that eternal, never ending heavenly joy.
That the people of God will enjoy in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And with God their Father for all eternal ages, all bring forth the best robe and put it on him. And that best roar would speak to us of God's righteousness. There nothing else would do. The Son may have found a robe on the way home, but that robe was no good. It had to be the robe that the Father himself provided God's own righteousness.
And every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ tonight in this room is dressed in God's righteousness. How wonderful. Well, going back now to the 22nd chapter of Matthew, we have something very solemn here. We're not going to go over the chapter, but there was a marriage given for the certain king, a marriage for his son, and the invitations went out. Each one received the invitation, the invitation.
To attend the marriage and you know they accepted the invitation. And apparently with every invitation there was a robe provided, a wedding garment apparently provided for everyone.
Who accepted the invitation? They received a wedding garment and they put the wedding garment on and they came.
Except one man.
And I suppose that one man would remind us of the self-righteous Sinner who says, well, I'm good enough, I don't need to be saved. You know, I I'm very religious and I do all kinds of good deeds and whenever any charities needed, I'm right there.
To meet the need of I give to my neighbors and my friends. I don't need a savior. Why? I'm good enough and I believe this wedding garment would speak to us of God's righteousness, God's salvation. And this man dares to come in and sit down with the guests. Notice that verse I read to you the third, the 12Th, the 11Th, 1St, and when the king came in to see the guests.
He saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment.
What a contrast the best robe placed on the prodigal son.
Here is a man without a wedding garment. And when the king comes into the room and looks at those many guests, his eye rests on that one man. He stood out. He stood out. And my friend, I speak reverently. If it were possible for any Sinner of Adam's race to get into heaven without Christ, when God looks into that crowd, you would be singled out. What are you doing here without Christ?
What happened to this man?
Verse 12 And he said unto him, Fran.
How came a thou in? Hit her not having a wedding garment? Now notice and he was speechless.
He was speechless. I've talked to man about Christ and they say you just wait till I get before that judgment day. Believe me, I'll have some things to say to God about the unrighteousness of this poor world. What does it say here? And he was speechless. He had nothing to say, nothing to say to defend himself, nothing to say as to why he didn't have the wedding garment on. He was speechless before the majesty of that king.
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You know, my friend, when the unsaved we had this afternoon stand before the Great White Throne, they will be speechless, absolutely nothing to say. Now I want to remind you that these are the very words of the only man that ever lived in this world, who never told a lie. These are the words of the one who was God, manifest in the flesh. He did not exaggerate. He did not add to or take from. He told the truth.
Notice the 13th verse then said the king to the servant.
Buying him hands and foot. What does that mean? Why he lost his liberty. Now you know, the devil is very clever. And there's many, many people tonight in the United States of America who really say this, and they really believe it too. When I get to hell, all my friends will be there. I'm going to have a wonderful time. It's going to be a wonderful thing to get away from all the Christians and this day with the ungodly.
Forever and ever. But notice my friends buying him hand and foot, his liberty was gone. First of all, his speech was gone. Now his liberty is gone. And then it tells us.
In cast them out into outer darkness. Now his friends were gone. He couldn't see his friends. He couldn't see anybody. He was in outer darkness. Now these are the words of the Lord Jesus. Don't dare try to take from them.
Don't dare dare to try to add to them. These are the faithful words of the Blessed One who died on Calvary's cross to save you from going to this very fake.
Of everyone that rejects the precious Christ of God. Notice now what it says.
And cast them into outer darkness. He lost the light.
You got the light tonight. You have in your home the Bible. When you go home tonight, do you see on your father's desk?
Or your mother's Bureau. The Bible. You have the light there, don't you? The light will be gone, my friends. You come into this assembly and there's many lights here. Everybody that has a Bible has a light, but there'll be no light there. All light will be gone. He lost the light, and then there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. He lost every bit of joy.
Every bit of peace that he had. All friend counts the cost, counts the cost.
Case you crossed that line tonight, that will lead you to hell.
Now, we don't like to pretend. I would rather preach Christ than preach town, that's for sure. But we must be faithful, My friends, Hell is at the end of a Christless life. Are you living a Christless life tonight? Are you tonight? Here one who Maybe you say, Well, I'm not really rejecting Christ, but I'm neglecting. I'm just putting it off until a better time. There's a day coming when I'm going to make my choice for Christ again. The word of God says, how shall we escape?
If we neglect so great salvation now in the 27th chapter of Matthew.
We came to the solemn account which God gives us of the rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We live in a world that has rejected Christ. We live in a world that is history is written in blood.
We live in a world that's stained by the bloods of 10s of thousands of millions of men who died on battlefields and so on. But apart from all that, this world is stained with the blood of God's Son, God's Son. This world is stands with the blood of Christ and tells us here in the 28th verse and they stripped him and put on him a scarlet robe, I believe seeking a Jewish royalty.
The scarlet robe and mockery they put on him a scarlet robe. And they said, this man's a king. Why, we'll crown him king. And they put on him a crown of thorns, a mark of the curse. And there, beloved, let me bring you over back to that day. And there we have this scene of this glorious man as he stood there before Pontius Pilate with a scarlet robe on and the crown of thorns on his head.
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And men saw him.
And the devil saw him, and the demon saw him, and the Angel saw him. And God saw him. A sight for man, a sight for angels, the man, the Creator, the one who came down from heaven, born of a virgin, crowned with thorns by men who this before had said release unto us, Barabbas.
I'm sure what we what we heard this afternoon, young people about this world was indeed something to make us think. And I want to bring out to you that the man who started this world was a murderer. That great world system, his name was Cain. As our dear brother told us, he was a murderer. Barabbas, who the world chose, was a murderer. And the God and Prince of this world, the Lord Jesus said, is a murderer.
How can we expect anything else in this world but trouble, wars, fights, quarrels, strikes and everything else when the whole business was started by at least three murders, 3 murders connected with this great world system.
The devil, the God, and the Prince of this great world system came the originator who built that city, as our brother told us, and Barabbas, who was chosen by the world, who set away with Jesus, away with Jesus. In other words, they said we would rather have Barabbas come for supper, even though while we were not looking. It might kill us all, and the children and my wife and everybody, but we would rather have Barabbas with us than to have Jesus.
Anybody but Jesus, they say. This is solemn thing. This is the world young people you and I are living in tonight. And the newspapers, apart from the Bible, tell us what is happening in this great world system tonight.
Soon to come under the heavy hands of the judgment of Almighty God.
This is the world we're living in, my friends, and the world that crucified the Lord Jesus. They crucified him. Now the Savior hung on that cross from 9:00 AM.
To 3:00 PM.
For the first three hours he suffered at the hands of man.
For the last three hours he suffered at the hands of God.
And you know, a careless world. And men and women say, well of course I believe in the crucifixion. Didn't Jesus Christ die for everybody? That's true. But our brother pointed out a few weeks ago at a funeral service Christ died for all but Hebrews 9, verse 27, I believe is very careful to say that Christ bear the sins of many.
My friends, Christ didn't die. For every man sins in this world. He only died for the sins of many. And if you want to be numbered among the many, then you must have Christ. You must receive him as your personal savior. You must have Christ living in you. Not religion, my friend. No, but Christ a living Savior, one who burst the the very bars of death, and who came forth by absent over death.
The Son of God buried in his hands and feet and sides the marks he received on the cross of Calvary, who went back into heaven as a man who sat down at the right hand of God arisen, and a glorified Christ who will bear for eternal ages in his hands and feet inside those marks.
Forever tell God and man that Calvary's work is forever finished. But I point out to the verse that I read to you in verse 4045 now from the 6th hour.
There was darkness over all the land of the ninth hour.
The mighty sun that he placed in the heavens hid his face.
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As the creator.
God's beloved eternal Son, the maker of heaven and earth, and all the planets and everything that was made, was made since.
Can understand that can we? We can read the verse in Two Corinthians chapter 5, verse 21, that he was made sin for us. He knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him and the Savior in the Garden of Gethsemane contemplating those three hours of darkness.
Said, Oh, my father will be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done, and there's men in this room tonight, and women who are faith in eternal damnation.
An eternal rule and an eternal hell. Maybe you're not moved at all. Maybe you're laughing and mocking. Maybe you're talking to your neighbor beside you and you don't fear the awfulness of being away from God for eternity and the very darkness of the damnation of hell.
My friends, what a solemn thing. Christ died for the ungodly. Here is Christ in this 46th verse and about the 9th hour. Jesus cried with a loud voice. The Savior was about to die, but he was God, my friend. He was the Son of God. He was God manifest in the flesh. And he cried with a loud voice. Not a weak voice like a man dying or a woman passing through death, but he cry with a loud voice.
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Have you answered the question, my friend? Have you answered the question? I received a tape message from our brothers in the assembly at Walla Walla. He preached on this verse in the little Chapel in the Washington State Penitentiary, and he preached in this very question. My God, my God.
Why hast thou forsaken me? And he said, man, is there one man in this group tonight who can answer the questions? There wasn't one man who stirred. He turned to a man behind who he knew as a believer. And he said, Mike, can you answer that question? And this man that's been in prison, I suppose, nearly 10 years, he said, yes, I can. He said he was forsaken by God.
Because he was bearing my sins in his own body, on the tree, friend. When I heard that tape message in my home, I bowed my head and wept. And I thought of the boys and girls and the young men and young women who have been favored by God with the Bible read Morning and Union Night with the verses on their walls. Who heard this question asked and asked and asked again and again.
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
And I don't care. They don't answer the question. But a man in the prison behind those mighty penitentiary walls said he was bearing my sins in his own body on the tree. Yes, He died for you, my friend, if you'll have them. He loved us, dear Christians. He suffered for us the sufferings we never enter into for eternity. He loved us. He paid the price. He had to suffer agony.
If he bore our erection of sins and our guilt, and when he was made sins, and the stroke of judgment fell upon him, for God must punish sin, and God will punish sin, either he has punished it at Calvary cross, or he will punish it in the future.
An eternity. Which will it be, my friend? Then, in the last passage we read in the 28th chapter, Notice now the Angel answered, and sentence the women. Fear not ye, for I know that she seek Jesus, which was crucified. Now, now, dear Christians, this is a word for you and for me.
Heaven knows exactly what we're seeking.
The Angel here said, I know that she seeks Jesus, which was crucified. In case there were other people in that in the world called Joshua or Jesus. He's marked out here, beloved by the Angel of God. I know that ye seek Jesus which was crucified. There's the difference. He was the crucified Jesus and he said he is not here. He's not here.
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And Luke's Gospel, it says, Why seek ye the living among the dead? Which brings us back to our brothers address this afternoon. Dear Christians, why do we seek the living among the dead? Why do we make friends of the unsaved, the ungodly, those who have no use for Christ, their dad, my friend, why seek ye the living among the dead? He's not here, he's risen, said the heavenly Angel, How glorious.
Blessed Christ lives. We don't preach a dead Christ. We preach a living Christ, a Christ that broke the bonds of death. Again, I say a Christ who has power to rise from the dead and come out of that sepulchre a living savior and thank God he's my savior.
I asked you before I bow my head in prayer. Are you going to be saved tonight? Are you going to cut off this question and be damned? Are you going to put off this question and lose your soul? Are you going to put off this question and have the wrath of God fall on you, and you'll be left in North America and all your loved ones and your father and your mother all gone home to glory, and you left in this wretched world?
Where men will seek death and not be able to find it.
These are the words of the living God, my friends. We don't preach religion. We preach Christ. Christ crucified, Christ risen. And Christ come in again. The Christ of Calvary, the one who said His precious blood and that blood has power to cleanse from all sins. It's the blood of Christ. It's the love of God. It's the love of Christ. Will you have that Savior tonight? Will you as I bow my head in prayer?
Will you say, oh God, I'm guilty, I'm a Sinner, I sinned against thee and in my sight, and I come tonight to the Lord Jesus Christ. I claim it as my Savior. I confess him as my Lord. I confess that the man the world spit upon, that the world crown with thorns, is not only Jesus, but God has made that same Jesus both Lord and Christ.
He's the Lord Jesus Christ, and if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved that precious verse.
Down in Fredericton, NB, last Saturday night was used by the grace of God to lead a young woman to tell another brother who was in the room. Tonight I got assurance. What did she do to get that assurance? She said I was saved two weeks ago. I think now she knows why she confessed. The Lord. Do you ever confess the Lord? Yes. Young boys and young girls.
Have you ever confessed the Lord? Why not tonight confess the Lord? He's Jesus, but He's the Lord Jesus.
May God bless his word for the glory of his eternal name.
Saved, Past, Present, Future
Gospel—A.C. Hayhoe
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General Meetings, Toledo, November 1976. Gospel by Albert Hayhoe.
We sing together hymn #35.
Pin number 35. Oh, what a phasor that he died for me.
From condemnation he has made me free, He that believe upon the sun that he has everlasting life.
All my iniquities on him were laid, all my indebtedness by him was paid, All who believe on him the Lord hath been has everlasting life #35.
Oh, what the savior? That he died for me.
He had made me feel.
Bad here in his life.
All my inequities are here, where there's all my deadness by him. What day.
All holy live on him by Lord.
I can trust my.
Belief is worse.
All the life and methods, every child of all.
Everlasting.
Worthy.
Come and he will not fall.
Save, I believe that all of us.
Thought I'll everlasting life.
Larry.
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Could you please turn with me?
The first they peddled of Timothy.
Chapter One.
Verse 15.
First Timothy Chapter one, verse 15.
This is.
Faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation.
That Christ Jesus.
Came into the world to save.
Does that gladden your heart to hear that verse once again?
I know it does if you belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. It gives me joy to read it, and it brings you joy to hear it. And it gladdens the heart of God to see us share it together. Isn't it wonderful?
This is a faithful thing, and worthy of all acceptation that Christ.
Came into the world to save sinners.
And there stands before you this night, by the grace of God as sinners saved by a precious blood of him whose name is found in this verse, Jesus Christ, my Savior.
When I was a boy in Ottawa, we knew and loved a dear man named RJ Watson.
And one day, as dear brother Watson was walking along the street, he met a complete stranger who stopped him and said to him, Sir, are you saved?
Well, Brother Watson, with a big smile said. Young man, I am saved.
And I'm being saved and I'm going to be saved.
That takes a little explaining, does it not? And that's what I would like to bring before you this evening. From the word of God I am saved. Thank God for that. I am being saved. And again I say thank God for that, and I shall be saved. And once more I say thank God for that. Shall we turn then to those portions of the Word of God that might bring before us?
The wondrous and complete story of the salvation.
That is ours in Christ Jesus, the salvation, which by the grace of God means so much to me, and to many another in this audience tonight, so much to us, that we long to have you shared in a wonder of it too.
First of all, this verse this is.
A faithful saying.
Power faithful saying is one that you can really rely upon.
Utterly trustworthy. And here it is the word of God addressed to us. Surely we can rest with glad certainty upon a message that comes not from the one who is standing here this evening, not from God. Himself. A faithful saying. Have you ever had promises made to you that we're not kept?
We all have experienced this. I'll put it the other way, wrong. Have you ever made promises that you failed to keep? Sometimes we forget we made those promises. Sometimes we find ourselves unable to fulfill the promises that we have made. But here I find a faithful saying, one that comes from God Himself and a saying, a statement.
Which you and I can trust utterly.
And eternally but faithful has not only the meaning of that which is.
Entirely reliable and trustworthy. But a faithful friend is not one who would flatter you when you ought to be corrected. A faithful friend is one who will deal truthfully with you. And when I open the word of God, I find that I am being addressed by a faithful God whose word I can utterly trust. But a God who is faithful in that he tells me.
00:10:27
Plainly, solemnly.
Exactly what my true condition is in his sight, or how faithful this is. Would it really be faithfulness? Would it really be love to withhold from me the true condition of my heart in His sight until that day when I stand before him and discover it, and it's too late? He has been faithful to you. He has been faithful to me, in that he has told us long before that day.
Exactly what He has seen in your heart and mind. And what are those faithful words God's word declares?
There is no difference. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Those are faithful words. Those are the words of a God whom someday you and I will most surely meet. It's one thing to read them in the word of God, and then perhaps close the book and try to forget that you read them. But remember this friend, that every one of us in a day that is now near at hand.
Going to stand in the presence of the one who knows all about us and has.
Thankfully, plainly and clearly told us there is no difference. Our brother last evening spoke of his experiences in speaking to men behind the prison bars, and I know very well as he stood among them, he felt in his own soul, but he was not presenting to them that which he, as one superior to them, was telling them that not needed by him.
He felt, and I feel this evening as I stand here, that God's word points first of all at me, and says there is no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God again, I read.
All things.
Are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Aren't they solemn words? They're faithful words, my friend.
Rests at this very moment upon the record of your life and of mine, or how that used to make me tremble. I knew very well, as the eye of God looked upon the record of my life, that there were sins there beyond my ability to remember, beyond my ability to count, And yet he had recorded every one of them, and their paid after paid they lay.
Naked and open before his eyes and a verse closing with a terrifying word.
The eyes of him with whom we have to do. But I want to tell you I can hardly understand it now as I look back upon it, that there were many times in the night when I lay awake, troubled by this matter, I knew that I was guilty. I knew that the eye of God looked down upon those pages of my guilt. The thing that amazes me now as I look back upon it, is this why? Why did I not?
Kneel down and accept him. When first I heard the story of his redeeming love, I stand. Here's a trophy of his mouthless grape. I thank him this night with an overflowing heart that the day did come, and I praise him for it. But these knees of mine at last were bowed.
And it was at a general meeting like this, the last day in the dead of winter in the city of Ottawa.
Or how I thank God for us that the sovereign needs of mine were bowed.
I was guilty. I was lost. I knew God loved me. I knew Christ died for sinners. That one thing yet remains. Would this Sinner come or not? Would this Sinner bow or would he not? I thank God, as I look up this evening, to realize that as his eye now looks upon those pages, they're whiter and no the blood of Jesus Christ his Son.
00:15:12
Cleanser up.
Wonderful word cleanses us from all sin. This is a faithful thing and worthy of all acceptations.
Oh, I just can't embrace each and everyone here. But the eye of God can. He looks over this entire company and he knows the name of everyone here. I know but a few. He knows the name.
That you bear right where you're sitting this night. He knows your name, your age, and all about you, and he stretches out his loving arms now at the beginning of his gospel meeting and pleads with you because he loves you so dearly. He yearns over you with such affection that he wants you now at the beginning of this meeting.
To accept that which he offers worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world.
To save sinners. I know that this is an old fashioned word. It's a word rejected now. It's a word unwanted and unwanted in this modern age in which we live.
Faith sinners. I want to make this very, very plain because I tremble as I see around me increasing evidence.
Of a modern so-called evangelical message that encourages men and women to commit their lives to the Lord, to surrender their hearts and live a more meaningful, purposeful, Christ centered life.
Beloved friends, the gospel that I see in this precious book points down at men and women, no matter what their status in the social or political or religious world may be. And has this to say, there is no difference, for all have sinned.
Could we please picture that instead of an auditorium here in which we're gathered, we're meeting together in a penitentiary such as we heard mentioned last evening. We're all alike prisoners.
These are prison walls around us. Each and every one of us has been sentenced, and here we are, gathered together in a penitentiary with long sentences stretching out before us.
And someone stands up to proclaim a message.
And we can hardly believe our ears. His message is at present immediate full pardon.
For anyone who will simply accept it. Would those prisoners understand that message? I doubt not. They would be speechless with amazement, but they would realize that it was just what they needed. There might first, perhaps, be one among them.
So stubborn, so rebellious, that he refuses to acknowledge the guilt that brought him there and therefore refuses to accept the pardon. A beloved friend. The message that we have to proclaim to you this night from the word of God is not a message that tells you that you need to make a certain commitment to the Lord. What you need is this friend to realize that you are a law, a guilty Sinner on a downward Rd.
To Hell. And that there is a Savior who so loves you that he died, that you might be redeemed, and that the God whom you will soon meet is a God who is offering you a pardon that cost him the life blood of his own Son, to offer you worthy of all acceptation, That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
To save sinners, turn back with me, please, to Ephesians Chapter 2.
00:20:05
In Seasons Chapter 2.
Verse 8.
4-5 Great are ye?
Faith through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gifts of God.
Not of work, lest any man to boast.
The first part of this chapter describes very faithfully. Faithfully, I say.
'Cause estimate of your condition.
Death in trespasses and sins God describes most faithfully exactly your condition and mine. And then come those glorious words in verse 4. But God, there was nothing that we could do to remedy, or even to better our own condition.
Lost, Guilty, And on that broad Rd. that leads downward to hell, but God who is.
Rich in mercy for his great love, wherewith He loved us even when we were dead in sin. How wondrous are those words? When did He love you? After you had turned over a new leaf, after you had worked up sufficiently pensions, as you considered it, then He loved you. Is that what it says? God, who is rich in mercy for His great love, wherewith He loved us?
Even when we were dead.
Since then, that's when he loved me. When I, a rebellious and guilty and lost son of praying parents, He loved me. That's when he loved me. And I thank him with all my heart that he loved me, then loved me enough to come the Lord Jesus Christ, to come into this world, to take my place there upon that middle cross.
And there suffer the dust and righteous judgment of God due to my sin.
All of them there to endure those strokes of judgment, there to shed his precious blood, in order that I might read such wondrous words as thee, verse 8 Four by grace.
Are ye saved? Is it presumption for me to look up from the pages of the Word of God and say thank God I am saved?
It would be a mockery of the truth of God if I looked up with any other conviction in my soul. This is the word of God. In it I see displayed the hatred of God against sin, and the love of God to the poor sinners, and the gifts of the Lord. Jesus. Christ is well beloved Son. And there upon the cross of Calvary I see the Lord Jesus bow his head.
And receive that load of sin.
Come, let us fix your Calvary, beloved.
On either side of our Lord Jesus Christ there are erected to crosses.
And on those crosses.
2 malefactors.
Any different? No. None whatsoever. Their lives have been stained with guilt, both of them. Those hands which had been guilty of so many crimes are now fastened to that cross. Nothing further can be done. Those males, those feet, I should say, that had tropen the hard path of the transgressors, are now nailed to the cross and.
There's not a step can be taken, but two things remain unfettered. What are they? The heart.
And the tongue, the heart and the tongue remain unfettered. And there is the Lord Jesus hangs upon that middle cross. One of those malefactors says, We indeed justly, for we receive the due rewards of our deeds. But this man, the Lord Jesus on the middle cross, this man hath done nothing amiss. And then with a triumphant faith, he says.
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Lord, remember us. Did I quote that correctly? No. You know I did not. Lord, Remember Me. Isn't it nice to be able to make this individual personal? It's a straight state. One by one, we must receive him as savior. One by one, we must enter that gate.
And start on that road that leads by God's grace to the glory.
Lord, Remember Me, and the answer of the Lord Jesus, How wondrous are the words? Verily I sent to thee today shall thou be with me, with me in paradise.
In Paradise now there are still 2 manufacturers, one on either side.
They are still alive, but one is saved and one is yet lost.
To look upon them as they hang there. It's a solemn picture, One, say, and 1 lost an eternity so near at hand for both of them. But it was not long before that Roman soldiers came, and with a stroke of his weapon broke the legs of those two malefactors, and they were gone.
Oh, how much for solemn now go, am I say but one of them?
Gone home to the glory, to be with the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm going to meet that malefactor. I'm going to meet Him in the glory. What is His passport? The glory? Nothing more and nothing less than the Saviors. Precious blood shed for him. Shed for me also by grace there upon that middle cross. What about the sins of that malefactor?
I want to make this as plain as ever I can.
What about his sins? What became of them?
God who knew them.
Removed them from that malefactor.
Laid them upon that holy victim on the middle Cross. How many of them, all of them, were laid upon that holy fiction? Jesus upon the Middle Cross? And God strokes of judgment came down upon the Lord Jesus Christ for the sins of that very malefactor, or how little he knew the wonder of that which transpired.
As they hung there upon those 3 crosses in those hours of darkness from 12:00 until 3:00, the strokes of God's wrath and judgment fell upon that victim. On the middle cross, God's own son, the Lord Jesus Christ, that holy victim, bowed his head. The strokes of God's wrath and judgment come down upon that holy One. My sins were laid upon him.
All come, my friend, can you also say with gladness of heart, Yes, thank God.
My sins, too, were laid upon him. He bore them, And when he cried at last in triumph, it is finished. I know the work was done. That fear thrust into his side, drew forth that precious blood. I have never seen that blood.
And neither have you. But I know someone who has seen that blood.
God's eye has seen that precious blood, and God has placed his estimates upon a value of that precious blood. With such words as these, the blood of Jesus Christ his Son, cleanseth us from all sins.
You know, I often, when I read that story, look back to the Garden of Eden and I see Adam and Eve.
Seen both of them, They took that which was forbidden them, and they're driven out from that garden. The gate of that earthly paradise is closed behind them, and an Angel with a flaming sword turns every way to keep the way. The tree of life. What a tragedy, What a sad picture that is. Am I right? Am I right to think of sadness in the heart of God as he looks down and saw that run with whom he had enjoyed fellowship together in the garden?
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Now banished from that garden. But I believe it's right to say that the moment, the work of redemption was accomplished. Some moments, alas, talks of judgment fell upon him, God's beloved Son, and that precious blood is shed. The gate of paradise is open, and the first one to accompany the Lord Jesus Christ the Savior, into those courts of eternal glory is none. Others.
Then I see.
Oh, a picture much more wonderful than if the gate of Eden had been opened in some way to readmit Adam and Eve. The date of glory is open by virtue of the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ. And he who accomplished that word now stretches out his piercing hands and plays with you. My friend. It sounds strange to me to use that word, but they're true. Why?
Why should he have to plead with you or me to accept the offer of pardon, the invitation to that homeless endless glory?
Are we saved? Yes, Beloved, if you have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior by virtue of His precious words, you and I can use with glad certainty the word that we find here in verse eight of our captures. By grace, are ye saved?
Through faith and that more of yourself. It is the gift of God. It would be an insult to the God who penned these words if I were to look up and say I wish I could believe it. I hope it's true. Not so, my friend. I look up from the pages of this wondrous book and I say thank God it is true. I am saved. May I pause here to ask you, please?
To imagine emblazoned behind me on this black background, 2 words lost over Yonder and save on this side.
Their words very often found in the word of God. You'll find them in Luke 19 verse 10. The Son of Man is come to seek and to save.
That which was lost. Now you are in either one or the other of those conditions right now. Would you, I beg of you, would you answer right now in the sight of God? Which of those words is true of your condition, with eternity so near at hand, lost or saved? It's not what Mother thinks about to it's not what the neighbors, or your fellow church members, or fellow workers, or whatever may have to say about who.
It's what the Word of God has to say.
If you have not yet accepted the pardon that God delights to offer that most costly a pardon.
You're lost. You're lost. You may walk up and down the streets of Toledo, OH with the finest reputation of any citizen of this city, but God says.
You're lost.
And from that emblazoned word lost, an arrow points downward to hell. That's where you're going, friends with all that fine and enviable reputation, with all the fine words that anyone might say about you, or over your dead body after you're gone, you're lost. Unless you have accepted the pardons that God delights to offer.
Oh, do let me repeat an illustration that I know many of you have heard.
Some time ago I was visiting.
In a prison.
Many years ago, I had visited that same prison.
And in that prison were three men condemned to be hanged.
And while I was still on that island, one man was led out and hanged.
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The solemn thing, my friend. A solemn thing.
He was led back 10 steps.
From the trap door and he took those last 10 steps.
So solemnly and quietly, and at the 9th step of black straight was dropped over his head, and one more step took him from time to eternity. One last step.
And he had to meet God.
Thought many days later, the second one was led out and the same procedure was followed.
He was gone.
And the third one lay waiting in the prison.
Her Majesty the Queen visited that island.
And before she left the island, she asked for a list of the names of those who were in that very prison. It was handed to her, she scandalous. And on that list she found the name of that last of the three, his age, just the youth, his guilt, murder, his sentence to be executed. And the date was almost at hand. Now Her Majesty the Queen is the only one that has the right to do this? He asked.
That are pardoned be made out in the name of that man? He knew nothing of what was going on outside the prison wall, and this proclamation was drawn up. His name was written there, and Queen Elizabeth signed it, and then got on board the Royal Yacht Britannia, and sailed away. And the pardon was brought within those prison walls and offered to this young man.
I could tell you his name, but he now lives in the United States tonight. Better not. I know it well.
Need I tell you the rest of the story? Do you think he hesitated? Do you think he said come back in a week? No, friend. With absolute amazement, he looked at that which was such a total surprise to him. He clutched it and realized that he was a free man. He walked out the great iron gate of that prison up and down the streets of.
Kingstown, Saint Vincent, A pardoned man.
But I must tell you a little more.
He suddenly realized I have been pardoned for one offense by Her Majesty the Queen. But I have to meet God. What shall I do? I must speak God about this sin and every other sin in my life.
There fell into his hands, a Sunday school paper called Messages of the Love of God.
He read that paper. He knelt down and owned before God. His guilt was God's love, Abel, for a man like that is the value of the blood of Christ able to meet such a dark stain of sin. Thank God. Indeed it is the blood of Jesus Christ. His son cleanseth us from all sins, and this young man rose up from his knees.
Knowing that every state of sin, not that one only, but every state of sin, was blotted out eternally by the cleansing power of the blood of Christ, friend, you would call that young man a fool in capital letters, if he were to even hesitate.
To accept that pardon. What did it cost Her Majesty? A bit of thoughtfulness? The signing of her name? Would she give her son Charles as a substitute for that man? Never. And if she did, how great would be the mockery and the guilt of the man? Now if he refused it? Friend, I warn you solemnly that God has given his beloved Son the Lord Jesus Christ.
God has brought the strokes of judgment down upon that victim in order that you might hear the gospel and you're going to meet him.
Will you say to him you were reminded last night you will be speechless? Oh, as I utter these words, friends with all my heart, I thank God my guilt is gone, plotted out forever by the precious blood of Christ. Turn with me now, please, through the epistle of the Hebrews.
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Hebrews Chapter 7 and verse 25.
Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth.
To make intercession for them.
I am being saved. My soul is saved for eternity.
My guilt is gone forever, blotted out to be remembered no more. But I'm not home yet.
I may be home very soon. It was a long time ago that the precious Savior redeemed me by His Precious Blood. And here I find thou wondrous, assuring words that I have a living Savior now in the glory, who has promised that He will see me safely all the way home.
Strong Gospel chapter 10. I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man. Neither can any man flush them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my father's hands. I and my Father are one, and now as I stand here this evening.
I look up and realize that that Savior who died to redeem me, who shed His precious blood to cleanse me, whose dead body was laid in that tomb. As we heard this day and yesterday, that tomb is empty. The Lord Jesus rose triumphant. He has ascended up there in the glory, and is He now just and only waiting for the moment when He shall come again.
In the mean time, in the meantime, look what we have here. He is able to save them to the uttermost. The Savior who died for you and me from a cross of Calvary now lives up Yonder that God's right hand, able to bring us safely all the way home.
You're not able. I'm not able. If it were left to anyone of us, we would fall, by the way. But we have a risen, ascended, living savior and high priest at God's right hand in the glory, who has pledged in his word that he will see us all the way home. I was talking some weeks ago to a man named Michael Webb.
Michael Webb had a very, very special friend whom he brought up as a son in his home. They were very close to one another. One day they were out in a canoe together. A dugout canoe hollowed out from a great log.
And down one of the rivers of Africa they journey together.
Satting in friendly fellowships and the canoe tipped over.
Well, Michael Webb was a good swimmer and he struck out with certain strokes toward the shore and suddenly turned around to see that his dear friend was struggling and going down out of sight. So Michael quickly turned around, grabbed him and started to pull him towards shore. But by this time he had panicked and he struggled and broke away again and started to go down.
And Michael the second time grabbed him, held him up, and started toward the shore. The third time he broke away and went down, And Michael cried again. And again he tried. He dies and dies, for he loved that young man, but he lost him. At last. He had to stand with broken heart on the shore, realizing that the one whom he wanted to say was drowned beneath the waters of that dark river.
And as he told me this story, I thought of this verse.
Michael Webb was willing to say, but he was not able to say. They love a friend. The savior that I present to you this night is a savior who is able to save to the uttermost.
00:45:15
All the way home to the glory. Oh, what a wonderful savior we have. He died from the cross of Calvary that we might be redeemed. He lives Yonder in the glory that we might be safely.
Take them through the journey that leads us homeward so I can stand here and soak in every other believer in this company tonight.
To say with gladness of heart, that he who died upon a cross of Calvary, to redeem us from our stains of guilt, now live Yonder at Godwright hand in the glory, and we look up and hear from him these wonderful words of assurance, able to save them to the uttermost, seeing he ever.
That tomb is empty. That Savior who loves me enough to die for me.
Is now living for me that God's right hand in the glory, Oh my dear brother and my dear sister in Christ. What we miss by not looking up from day-to-day and rejoicing in the faithfulness and allows, and the keeping grace of him who has made this wondrous promise, how often we stumble along the way, go our own way. By his promises, Holder, he'll see us safely.
All the way home.
So, as our dear brother Watson said to that stranger on the street, I am saved. Thank God I can say the same.
I am being saved. Thank God. I can say the same. Through the temptations and the difficulties and the problems that have been part of the journey from the day that he redeemed my soul from those dangerous sins, has he kept his promise? Indeed he has. Will he keep them to the end? Indeed he will. I want to give you a little illustration. There was a very dear Christian friend one time.
Who was talking with yearning love?
To an unconverted workmate, he had often spoken to him about the Lord.
And the workmate always said no. At last, he came out with the reasons.
Supposedly, he said. Now look, there's no use you're speaking to me in this way anymore.
I know the message that you have tried to give me, but you have no idea how weak I am. You have no idea how easily I yield to temptation. And I know this, that if I did what you have told me to do, if I accepted your Savior as my savior and became a Christian in no time at all, I would just fall and lose.
Lose it all.
Completely. So I don't think there's any point in your speaking with me anymore.
You know, his Christian friends completely changed the subject. In a moment he pulled his pen out of his pocket and he said, Do you think I could make this pen stand up on his point?
All his workmate said no, of course I don't think you could. Well, I can. I can make this pen stand up on his points so it won't fall over, he said. I don't believe you. Let me see you do it. So the Christian man picked up his pen and held it off on the desk and his friend said, now let's go and let me see what happens, she said. I didn't say anything about letting go. I just said I could make it stand up on its point so it wouldn't fall over, and that's what I'm doing.
Did you think?
The Lord Caesar was going to pick you up and save you and then let you go. No wonder you're afraid to trust him. They love that I present to you tonight and all the way home later. He loved you enough to die upon a cross of Calvary to redeem you, and he lives in the glory to keep. And he's coming again. He's coming again. Turn with me, please. To first Peter.
First Peter chapter one and verse 3.
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Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Or hasn't this truth thrilled our hearts the last two days?
By the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, in that fate of not away reserved in heaven for you who are kept.
By the power of God, here we have it yet again through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. What lies ahead? I tell you, friends, if you will but receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, your gift will be removed, Your sins will be blotted out. You will no longer be lost. But by the grace of God, save on the authority of God's Word, I say. It says.
And the same one who loved you enough to die that you might be redeemed, has pledged that he will keep you to the end of the journey. And what does the end of the journey hold? That glorious moment when the redeemed of the Lord shall be called up and away out of this world of tears and of death? And these very bodies of ours with self as evidence, sign of age and decay.
Plays and fashioned like unto his own body of glory. Oh, what a gospel message from a condition.
Lost. Guilty. On the road to hell. I stand here redeemed faith for giving it on the road to glory with a Savior Yonder in the glory who has friends. That he will never let me go low to intercede for me every moment of every day, as long as I may be here and what lies beyond what lies ahead.
The moment is near, I know it, and I say it with gladness. I think I can truly say I say it with eagerness. He's coming. He's coming at any moment to take home to himself, to complete that glorious and wondrous and final salvation, when even our very body shall be delivered from the infirmities that now beset them.
And we ourselves taken away from the very presence of sin that we see around us, ears.
Home at last. Home at last.
Oh, what a prospect, friend. Do you blame us for being concerned about you? You don't know what you're missing.
Not many months ago, at the close of a Gospel meeting like this, I suppose about the same number present.
Was a dear young lady sitting right over there and when the meeting was over she was bowed with conviction.
She got offered here and got on her knees and the tears began to flow. Brought up in a Christian home, yes, but she had rejected the gospel that her dear father had so awesome. But before her. And that night, as the tears flowed, she audibly.
Owned her guilt, accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as her Savior.
And confessed him to the dear girl who had persuaded her to come. But I can see her yet standing there, with tears flowing down her cheeks, but a radiant look of gladness on her countenance as the two embrace one another. Sisters in Christ. Oh, it was a altogether 2 Sacred for me to see at that point.
I turned and left, the two of them lost in each other's arms, rejoicing in the Lord.
A soul born again by the grace of God, came into the meeting lost.
Let down lost and rose up. Saved now sound guilty and rose up. Forgiven her sister.
Rejected those pleadings.
Again and again, he rejected those pleadings.
And her funeral was just three days ago.
Three days ago.
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That dear sisters, who would not bother me.
Who would not confess her guilt?
Who would not receive Christ as her Savior in one tragic moment was assured from time to return to.
Friend, it's true. There is a failure who loves you, who died for you, and who has lingered in long-suffering love until this very moment.
Why? The first words of your brother said to me when I saw him this morning was I thought purely he would come for us last night. But there must be someone else yet to be gathered in. And I know that's why he hasn't come yet. He's coming soon. He's coming at any moment. I'm ready.
Many here already. But friends, if he came, that glorious assembling shout where he heard right now I look up and down these rows and there's a seat that I know would be empty. There's a seat that I know would be empty. But God looks over these whole company, and he knows whether the seat that you are occupying would be empty. Friends, I beg of you.
I beg of you this night, do not please with eternity before you and a Savior who loves you long to pardon and to bless you, to take you to his home. He's waiting for you. I beg you, do not leave this place until this matter is settled. Don't burn that pardon that is being offered to you except the Lord Jesus Christ.
As your savior this night before, it is eternally too late, so we sing Please Hymn #1.
Him #1 almost persuaded now to believe.
Almost persuaded Christ to receive Could we rise, please to sing #1?
Almost.
Lessons from the Ocean
Children—T. Roach
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Gentlemen, Toledo, November 1976.
Children's meeting Tom Rd.
What's your favorite him off the seat? And this is a favorite Sunday school Him #40.
Jesus loves me. This I know, for the Bible tells me so. Oh, isn't that nice to know with the authority of God's word, that Jesus loves us.
I'm going to have to ask someone to start this gym please.
We will walk away my sins.
Left now where?
Yeah.
But some of us may have given me, the Bible tells me from.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
Survival tells me.
Well, I'm sure that all the young ones enjoy that hymn. And we were a bit older. We enjoy it too. And I'll tell you, if you go to an old people's home, they like to sing it there too, because it reminds them of what they learned when they were younger. So important for us, isn't it? To know these things while we're young and to know that Jesus loves us.
Ask you to put up your hand if you have a choice. All right #25.
Life, at best, is very brief.
Like the falling.
Like the?
Breathing falls from the dolphins and they come.
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And a fatal line behind.
The last verse.
The heater warning voice makes the Lord your happy choice.
From darkness in the light.
For heaven do not always be inside.
Someone else now, Yes.
#46
oh, that's nice. That's always a favorite. The spelling song Glad TIDINGS.
That day we have to come to our family to believe me.
And he called and he called all GIRL. And he won't go to the alliance to.
2 girls have given out a hymn. Oh, there's a boy.
#23
Let's bring the first and last of this one also.
Mercy and left at all.
On the ground, on the floor.
For you.
Must make.
Jesus.
For users.
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Now who's got another one?
OK.
35.
Now let's sing the first and last also so we have time for more hymns.
He died for me.
From condemnation he had made with free.
Message ever do.
That from the front.
Of the log in life.
And you'll have time for one more.
All up in the front. That's good. All right.
39.
What a friend we have in Jesus. We'll sing the whole hymn this time #39.
And they have in.
God, all right and.
Stranger Garden friends.
Or people often go.
Thank you God in prayer.
Anywhere.
Through the Lord and.
We find our friends.
Must know about every week now.
To the Lord in prayer.
With my friends despite. For.
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The Lord and Bread.
I will find out.
You know, boys and girls, everyone that stands up to speak to you.
Really was once a little boy himself and so I know that children like to hear stories, especially from some far away place.
I'd like to illustrate some of the verses from the Bible with some stories.
First of all, I want to ask you to put up your hand if you have never seen the ocean. How many of you have never seen the ocean before?
Very many.
Well, I know that the Bible has a verse that tells us about the oceans.
And a lesson that we can learn from. It is very interesting to watch the ocean, especially in a storm. Why people drive down by the water? To watch the waves when it's a rough day, when the waves are pounding in on the beach.
And the Bible tells us about that, and it gives us an illustration from.
Those waves that are pounding on the beach. So let's turn if you have your Bible to Isaiah 57.
And we'll see what it says about those waves, what they're like.
You don't have a Bible, just have a New Testament. While you'll have to listen carefully.
So it's Isaiah 57 and verse 20. This is what it says.
But the wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest.
Whose waters passed up mire and dirt. There is no peace, just my God to the wicked.
Or the wicked are like the troubled thieves when it cannot rest. All those of you who have seen the sea, you know what that is.
Just the constant motion. A man was telling me a few weeks ago what it what it's like to be out on a boat in a storm and there's no rest, he said. You lie down in your bunk and you're just tossed. You fall right out of bed and you can't eat. It's just so rough. Oh, it's just no rest. Oh, that's what the wicked are like. That's what those are like who don't know the Lord Jesus.
They're troubled and they're constantly moving about, looking for something to give them.
Who they long to have a calm.
A man in Nova Scotia who is a Christian years ago used to go out on the Fishing Schooners sailboat.
And one day he was saying they were trying to get into port. They were trying to get to their home port and it was so rough and the wind was against them. They couldn't make any headway all day long. The boat was pounding up and down. Finally decided it was getting dark. They go into another port that was nearby and as soon as they went inside, the breakwater calm.
Just peace. Well, he said. It reminded him of what it will be like to get to heaven when the they will be calm and peace with all the trouble and strife of this life here. But for the wicked there's no peace. That's my God, no peace. The wicked are like the troubled sea.
Well, this man I was talking to, he's the he's the man in charge of a lifeboat. A lifeboat. I think you'd like to hear a story about a lifeboat because there's a hymn, you know, that tells us that Jesus is a lifeboat. He's the safe lifeboat. Before I tell you that, I want to tell once more one more thing about the the wicked being like the troubled sea because.
There. I don't suppose there's anyone here that's never heard the gospel before. You all heard?
That there is a savior. And you've all heard that we're sinners and you know that you're a Sinner and you need a savior.
Well, I'll tell you about a young man who heard the gospel, who heard the way of salvation. And he admitted that what he heard was the truth. Yes, he agreed that it was the truth.
Now I can't tell you for sure whether the man will save their loss. He said he was trusting in the Lord Jesus and God is the one who determines that. It says the Lord looketh on the heart, the Lord knoweth them that are his, but it tells us as far as other people are concerned.
00:20:19
By their fruits you shall know them now if you're trusting in the Lord Jesus.
Other people should know it. They should know it by the way you live, the things you say, it should be evident in your life. There should be some fruit. But this man showed very, very little fruit. I would say none at all. And you know how he ended his life? He had been breaking into places, and at last he was apprehended by the police in a store in the middle of the night, and he attempted to attack the policeman with a knife.
And he was shot dead all the way of transgressors is hard to tell this in another verse. The wicked are like the troubled sea, this poor fellow. Every night he was going out and getting into some more trouble, and at last his life was taken. And his poor mother, she said if he'd only died of some disease it wouldn't have been so bad. All the grief and the sorrow that comes about from neglecting or ignoring or.
Despising the message that God has, He has a word for you as little children, and he wants you to receive the Lord Jesus. And if you do receive them as a little child, all the things that you'll be spared in your life as you grow up, if you try to live to please the one who died for you.
So the wicked are like the troubled sea.
But now, before I tell you about the lifeboat, let's turn over to the 10th of John in the New Testament. That's an easier place to find. Isn't it, John, Chapter 10?
And this is telling us about the Lord Jesus.
When he was here as a man.
Verse 14 of John 10.
I am the Good Shepherd.
And know my sheep, and I'm known of mine as the Father knoweth me Even so know I the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep, and other sheep I have which are not of this fold them also I must spring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd. Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.
No man taketh it from me, but I lay down my life. I lay it down as myself. I have power to lay it down. I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received from my Father. And so we find here that the Lord Jesus came into this world to lay down his life. That just means that he was going to give up his life. He was going to die. He meant that when he said lay down his life, just as we could lay down.
A book. He could lay down his life.
And you know that the way I was thinking of this, lots of times when we hear stories, they are reminding us of something in the Bible and.
I was telling you that I've been talking to a man who he's really the captain of this lifeboat and the lifeboat is a really remarkable thing, This particular boat. You think of a lifeboat maybe as in pictures, you see an open boat, but this is a 44 foot boat. It has two diesel engines in it and I think one of the most remarkable things about this lifeboat, they tell me that it's capable of in a very rough sea of turning right over.
And writing itself, it can capsize, turn right, upside down and it will write itself. And they have doors on that ship on that boat that they turn a crank and it just locks that door so that the sea won't break it open when the ship turns over. But I don't know if that would actually happen, but that's what they say it's supposed to be able to to do that. And on that boat they have radar and other electronic gear. They can tell how deep the water is under them.
And they have another machine that will tell them exactly where they are in the ocean and you know, with all that equipment.
This captain, he told me that it's possible that it would be so rough that he would decide it was too bad to the weather was too bad to go out. It's possible that there would be such conditions that he wouldn't take that lifeboat away from the dock, he said. You know, it's it's not worth risking the life of three men as a three man crew, He said it's not worth risking the lives of three men to rescue one.
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You know what made me think of these verses that we just read?
The Lord Jesus didn't come into this world to risk his life. You know what that means, boys and girls? To risk your life means to take a chance you might lose it and you might not.
And so the lifeboat captain would say, if it's too rough, if I think that we are in danger ourselves, then I wouldn't take the boat out from the shore. But the Lord Jesus didn't risk his life. He came to give his life. Isn't that wonderful? He knew he was going to lose his life when he came into this world. He came on purpose to lay down his life, to give his life. And why did he do it?
I think you know. I think you know because he loved you and he loved me and he wanted to save her. Because the wages of sin is death. And you and I, because we're sinners, we deserve death. Do you realize that? That you and I as sinners, we deserve death. We deserve punishment in the lake of fire forever. That's what we deserve. And Jesus loves you and me so much.
That he came into this world not to risk his life, but to give his life. And he says, I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again. Oh, what a savior we have. How can you resist that, you know, if that lifeboat goes out?
Someone in trouble. They trust the lifeboat. They've rescued many people already, although they just started the service less than a year ago. They've taken sick people off of passing ships. They've rescued people that were in danger and they all have trusted the lifeboat. Once you trust the Lord Jesus, won't you trust him? I heard tell of a similar boat that did turn over and it did sink.
But that won't happen if you trust the Lord Jesus.
He'll never fail you. He's able, we heard yesterday. He is able. Yes, he's able.
Now there's something very remarkable that this lifeboat captain told me, and it really is related to another verse over in Romans. So let's turn over to Romans chapter 2.
And we'll read verse 11, Romans chapter 2.
Verse 11.
What it says for there is no respect of persons with God. Now, I I suppose there are some of you that don't understand what that means. No respect of persons with God. That just means that as far as God is concerned, it doesn't make any difference whether you're poor or rich, whether you're a king or whether you're a slave, whether you're black or white.
Or whatever you might be in this world. There's no respect of persons with God. We heard last night, didn't we? There is no difference, no difference, for all have sinned.
No different.
Yeah, you know, a little bit Gives us a comfortable feeling to know that everybody's a Sinner, but God wants to single it out right down to you as an individual. As if you could point to yourself and say I'm a Sinner. You know, there's a man that tells us about him in Luke's Gospel and he, he beat on his chest and he said, God be merciful to me, a Sinner.
I know. It's just as if that man didn't know of any other Sinner, but he knew he was a Sinner and he wanted God to be merciful to him. Yes, he wanted God to be merciful to him. You know what that means?
It means he wanted God to give him something or to take away the judgment that he deserves. Because if he could have earned his way, that man wouldn't have to ask for mercy. He could have asked God to give him his wages. But the wages that we have earned is death. The gift of God is eternal life. And that man wanted the gift. And wouldn't you ask him this morning if you've never done it before?
00:30:20
To be merciful to you. Can you say that yourself, if you've never done it before? God be merciful to me, a Sinner.
One time in the tent in Nova Scotia, we asked the boys and girls to point to a Sinner.
You know what one little girl did? She went like this. She pointed to the person on each side of her.
But I'm thankful to say that most of the children were able to point to themselves. They pointed to themselves. Now you may not want to do that with your finger, but can you point to yourself and realize that you are the Sinner that Jesus died for? Jesus died for you Now The verse we read said there's no respect of persons with God. And this lifeboat captain, he told me that it would make a difference with him.
Who it was he was called on to rescue? He said he would be willing to take a greater risk for a person that he knew and he would for a total stranger. And he said, I know that's not right. But he said I'm human and I I can't help but feel that I would take a greater risk for a person that I knew and for a total stranger. And I suppose if we put ourselves in his place and had to make a decision whether or not to go out in a storm.
And if we knew, it was one of our best friends.
Why we might forget a little bit about our own danger and go out there to try and rescue that person.
But if it's a total stranger, well, that might be a little different, and I can sympathize with that man's feelings.
Now the Lord Jesus is not a respecter of persons, and to tell this in that verse that you all know so well, John 316.
God so loved the world. He loved the world. And we heard.
Last night I believe it was that Christ Jesus came into the world to save Sinner. He has to remember that verse.
Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
Yes, not friends, but sinners. And so God is not a respecter of person. It doesn't matter to him what.
Your standard of life is whether your father or mother are believers, you're just as responsible to receive the Lord Jesus for yourself as anyone else, and also wonderful privilege. We're going to come to that in a little while.
It's a wonderful privilege to be brought up in a Christian home.
And in Christian surroundings.
But all God is no respecter of persons He can reach down, as we heard, to into the jail I have.
Received a letter from a man who told me he was saved in solitary confinement in a prison all by himself. Now it's nice to be surrounded by so many of our friends and people who really love us and care for us. And here is a man in prison all by himself.
And he found the Lord there. The Lord found him in solitary confinement. Oh, how wonderful that the grace of God could go down into a prison. Or it could come into this room here this morning. If there's only one in the straight company that's still without knowledge of Christ as your savior, why, the Spirit of God would strive with you this morning as though there were no one else in the room.
Is there a boy or a girl who's really anxious for your soul? You really want to be saved? The Lord Jesus stands ready. He wants to save you. He's willing. He's able.
And he will save you, kill Adam. You just received him into your heart.
Now there's one more verse.
Or several verses in the book of Genesis. I'd like to turn to now 18th of Genesis.
I will just read the one the 19th verse.
00:35:02
Genesis 1819.
And this was what God said to Abraham.
He said, For I know him, but he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he has spoken of him.
And it speaks here of Abraham commanding his children and his household after him. Now I know that the the mothers and fathers are listening in too, but I wanted to speak to you children, you boys and girls.
That they, your parents, command you. They tell you to do things and they tell you not to do some other things because they love you and they want to see you go on in the right way.
And or it's a wonderful privilege to have been brought up in a Christian home. But like I said before, you know, this speaker as well as the others was once a boy himself. And you know, there were things that we wanted to do as children that we weren't permitted to do. And we sometimes made an excuse to the other boys rather than having an exercise for ourselves, we would say.
Well, my father wouldn't let me.
And we didn't like that very well. We'd rather have our own way. But I just say this to you, boys and girls. If your father and mother tell you not to go somewhere, you better listen to them, because they have a good reason you may not understand. And if they ask you to do something, like when they bring it to the meeting, I hope that you're here because you want to be here yourself. But Even so, if if you came against your will, be thankful that someone brought you here.
Thought it's a wonderful thing to be in a Christian environment and I wanted to tell you of a girl who I believe is the Lord.
Who was not brought up in a Christian home? And if you look into the door of the house, I've never been in that house, but I've looked into the door of this particular house and not only is the place dirty, but on the wall you can see the the beams in the wall and you can see the laughs and there's no plaster on the wall. And this girl who knows the Lord Jesus is her savior.
He didn't want a gift of a nice text.
To hang on the wall. Now, probably everyone of us here would like to have probably we have already a nice text with a verse of scripture and we hang it on our wall. We're glad to do that. And you know the reason that this girl didn't want the text, I believe is because that home was in such disorder. It wouldn't have been very nice on those walls that are just hanging down and no plaster.
Oh, it just makes you sick to think of a person living in such a home, if you can call it a home. And this girl knows the Lord Jesus and she'd like to please him. But all the difficulty it is to a person to be in that kind of a home where there's fighting. And probably if you did hang up a text, they would not like it and maybe they could take it down and destroy it. Particular boys and girls and I have had the privilege of being brought up in a Christian home.
Of having.
Meetings and hearing the word of God.
The privilege it is. And I want you to value it. Even though there may be times when you're told not to do something that you'd really like to do, and all your friends at school are doing things and and enjoying something that this world has to offer and you're just taking right out of it. And it's for your own good, For your own good. You should really be thankful for that. I speak this to those of you who know the Lord Jesus, because that's your responsibility.
You know, just tell you something else about this girl because it may make you value your privileges.
He wanted to come to the meeting, to the prayer meeting and Bible reading.
And.
We wanted to come with a dress on, and she didn't own one. He didn't even own a dress. She had to borrow one. And she knew that the way her family was, he wouldn't dare wear that dress in the house. He went to a friend's house to change her clothes so she could come to the meeting wearing a dress. Now, I'm sure that there's none of us here that have that kind of a circumstance to overcome.
00:40:17
But what do we do with the advantages that we have? Are we enjoying what the Lord Jesus has done for? Are we enjoying these privileges?
And you know, as we grow up and we look back on those things that we were prevented from doing, we see that they really weren't worth doing anyway.
And those things that we were made to do, we see that there was a real value.
As not to say that parents don't make mistakes, I've made plenty myself as a parent, and I'm sure that every parent here will admit that. But all there is that desire for your good, and that's why we as parents would tell you things. And perhaps we speak to other children that we see to try to encourage them to go on faithfully. Abraham says which command his children.
And just the word for the parents that has always exercised me in connection with this. When you read about Eli and the Book of Samuel, his sons were wicked and it tells us what Eli said to them. Oh, he scolded them. I can just picture him telling those boys they were doing something wrong. And God still judge Eli because he didn't restrain his children. It was evidently more necessary to do more than talk to them.
He was supposed to have done more than talk to them.
And he was judged and his sons all in the same day. They all died the same day. So two boys and their father and the wife of one of those boys. They died all in the same day. It was God's judgment upon them because Eli didn't restrain them. You let them have their own way. And I'll tell you too that as you grow up, you still have that in you that wants to go your own way. And if you've learned as a child.
To submit yourself.
Well, it's a help when you grow up to learn that you can't have your own way.
That God's way is the way for you to live as a believer. And then it's easier to submit to the word of God. To submit to what it tells you about the place of worship. Submit to what it tells you about other affairs of your life. And that's the happy life. That's the life that will give you joy, even though there may be tears in your eyes.
Now I wonder if we'd like to sing another hymn before we close with Claire. Yes.
44.
Will sing the 1St 2 verses of this one. All right first two verses of 44.
Boiling.
Nobody.
Ever.
To me.
My.
1 Corinthians 15:20-28
Reading
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General Meetings, Toledo, November 1976. First reading meeting.
M #3.
Oh God, we see thee in the last to be our folk, our joy, our rest, the glories that compose thy name, standing engaged to make us blessed.
Oh God, we see the.
Lord.
Oh our Lord.
Noah No, no, no, no, no. Everybody. Ha ha ha ha ha.
First Corinthians chapter 15.
Verse 20.
But now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept.
Since my man came, death by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
For as an Adam all die, Even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
But every man in his own order, Christ the first group afterward, they that are Christ that is coming.
Then come at the end, when he shall have delivered up the Kingdom to God, even the Father.
When his other foot down, all rule and all authority and power.
For he must reign for this, but all enemies under his feet.
The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
Put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifested he is accepted, which did put all things under him.
When all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son alter himself, be subject unto him but all things under him, that God may be All in all.
Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all, why are they then baptized for the death? And why stand we in jeopardy every hour?
00:05:12
Our protest by your rejoicing, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I died nearly if after the manner of men I have fought with peace at opposite what it.
If the dead rise not, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. If we not the same evil communications corrupt good manner.
The white to righteousness and sin. Now for some have not the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame.
But some man will say, however the dead raised up and without body do they come.
Thou fool Savage, thou source.
Not quick and accepted died, and that was also so. It's not that body that shall be, but bear grains. It may chance of wheat, or some other grain, but God giveth it a body, as it has pleased him, and to every seed his own body.
Or flash are not the same flesh, but there's one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts.
Another fishes and other birds. There are also celestial bodies.
Embodies Terrestrial, But the glory of the Celestial is 1, and the glory of the Terrestrial is another.
There is one glorious sun, another glory of the moon, another glory of the star.
The one star differs from another star in glory.
So also is the resurrection of the dead.
It is sown in corruption. It is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor. It is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness. It is raised in power.
It is sown a natural body that has raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body and there is a spiritual body.
And so it is written. The first man, Adam, was made a living soul. The last item was made of quickening spirit.
Albeit that but not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural, and afterwards that which is natural which is spiritual.
The first manners of the earth, earthy the 2nd man is the Lord from heaven.
As is the earthing, such are they also that are earthy, and as is a heavenly, such that they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. Neither does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, and we shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye. The last trump for the trumpet was sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
For this, Corruptible must put on incorruption.
And this mortal must put on immortality.
So when this corruptible shall it put on incorruption?
This mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pastor saying, that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
Oh death, where is I Sting? Oh grave, where is thy victory?
The string of deathless sin and the strength of sin is the law, but thanks be the garbage giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.
For as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the.
Oh, it seemed to me that something of a trial and the way that Quantico first comes into this chapter, because the fossil has been computing the terrible teaching that there was no resurrection.
And he says that there be no resurrection then, if Christ is not raised and if Christ be not raised.
Our preaching in vain and you're getting your sins. That is everything dependent on that truth, That Christ who went into death on the cross has been raised by the glory of the Father.
00:10:11
So when he had gone over this subject, then he comes out with such a triumphal word. But now?
If Christ roots, that's is the language of the word of God.
No uncertainty, no questioning about the matter. With firmness and positiveness the truth is stated.
There's a verse in Romans that I think of in this connection.
And it's very comprehensive and it's.
Overall picture. That's the 25th verse of the 4th of Romans.
Who was delivered for our offenses and was raised again.
For our justification.
You've delivered for our offenses.
It was raised again for our justification discovers a great deal of territory, doesn't it? And it it gives us to see that not until Christ was raised on high as a man, and we have this justification he speaks of. It's a part of the work that he finished.
It's completing the work and setting him saving himself on high or being seated on high.
As you have expressed, the Father raised him. It is true that he raised himself, but.
That's a very precious thought that the Father raised him and seated him on high.
It has been said that all God's glory went into the grace of Joseph of Arimathea. That is, was God defeated. He sent his Son in love. He fully displayed his grace, his character down here.
Man had nailed him to the cross. He had been forsaken there.
Was that work that his son came to accomplish a work to the?
Would maintain what God intended? Well, we get the marvelously wonderful answer that he was raised by the glory of the Father. That speaks of his complete and absolute victory over all the enemies, whether it's Satan or whether it be the question.
Of the putting away of our sins.
The one that the Father sent has triumphed. So it's in a very special way that in that.
Chapter in Romans, it's the fourth chapter, isn't it? Raised by the glory of the Father. As you said, Brother Lundeen, the resurrection of Christ is connected with the three persons.
That is, he was quickened by the Spirit where the Holy Spirit comes in. And he also says in the 10th chapter of John that he that he had power to lay his leg down, and he had power to take it again. This commandment have I received my Father. So in every vital subject we find that it's always Infinity.
So that the three persons of the Godhead are fully introduced. And in the resurrection it's very beautiful and very striking in which they're brought in. And especially in that verse in Romans 4 where all God's glory is in question, then we get how God has been fully displayed in his glory, the one that man nailed to the cross.
The one that he forsook because of our sins have been raised triumphant.
From the dead, where our sins had placed him.
I wonder too, is there some significance in the fact that at the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, the angels merely announced the fact that he is risen. He is not here, He is risen. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. But it doesn't say. Suddenly there was with the Angel a multitude of the heavenly hosts.
00:15:24
As it does at his birth, there was great rejoicing among the angelic hosts at the birth of the Lord Jesus, and I have wondered if it might be related to the thought scene of angels. It was a special joy to them to see their Creator in that Manger in Bethlehem. But could it be perhaps a bit of a challenge to us to notice that at the resurrection at the empty tomb, the angels merely announced the wonder of his resurrection and then are silent?
As much as to say, this is the occasion for redeemed men to praise and worship.
And I suppose perhaps our very lack of it, our silence as we think of the wonder and triumph of his resurrection.
Should make us hang our heads and realize that it is an occasion, by the grace of God, for our hearts and voices to be lifted up in praise.
It has been said that death is the principle of Christianity and resurrection is its power. And I think it is helpful for us to see that the resurrection of Christ was the proof to substantiation, as our brother remarked.
Of all that the Lord Jesus claimed to be, and the glory of the Father was in question. In this it stands out in contrast with every other religion in the world, because they had those whom they boast as great leaders and teachers bought to them. Death was the end of all their claims. They died, they were buried, and that was the end, I say, of all their claims. But here was the one who came.
And all that he said he was, and all that God would have us to know he is, is all substantiated in the fact that this one, having accomplished redemption, having glorified God. And as we know, he was crucified in weakness, but he was raised by the power of God.
And it's very important for us, even in preaching the gospel, to bear this in mind. We can speak a great deal about what the Lord Jesus did in bearing sin upon the cross, blessed and glorious fact, and that it is completed, that His blood has been shed.
But we need to see that we have a risen Savior, a glorified man at the right hand of God, and he is now the author of eternal salvation. And that is having settled the question of sin. He's there on our behalf as our great High priest and our advocate. He's coming again. And then that salvation will be complete because we'll be with him and like Him. So the resurrection is so important. It is, we could say again, the vital truth of Christianity.
And I believe should be announced in telling the gospel so that sinners lay hold of the fact that God has been glorified in the work and that we have a risen Savior. Don't you find that brother Hale and and the qualifications of a servant of Christ and and the days of the apostles that they preach Jesus and the resurrection.
And you find both in Peter's sermons and the in Paul sermons that he lays great. They both lay great stress on the resurrection, that the work was not complete until Christ rose from the dead. Then that glorious work was complete. Just like, say, someone who was serving a term in prison for me.
Well, when am I justified? He is bearing the punishment. He is locked up because of my sin. What am I justified when he comes out of prison, when he served the full term that I deserved and he comes out a free man? Well then I'm justified in my substitute. And just that way we see in the in the sufferings of Christ when forsaking of God, we see the judgment of God that he endured.
00:20:02
When he was made sin, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him, and then it was necessary that he die.
For our death as the wages of sin, who died for our sins and was buried, as in this very chapter, the gospel is brought before us, so that.
Then, of course, it was necessary that his blood should be shed.
For without the shedding of blood there is no remission. There was a full proof of the value of his death in the blood that flowed from his Fierce had sighed in death, of which John says that the blood of Jesus Christ his Son, cleanseth us from all sin. But then the resurrection, That is the proof that God is satisfied with the work. And I'm not only forgiven, I'm justified from all things.
As Paul says in his Gospel in the 13th of Acts, from which he could not be justified by the Law of Moses.
Well, I'm sure it's helpful for many of the young people who are encountered with others as they go to school and college saying there have been other great teachers and they would put the works of other men on equal with the Lord Jesus.
Well, now of course we know everyone of us, that the Lord Jesus is God. God, the sun come down in this world. But what distinguishes Christianity from all others is the resurrection. The Lord Jesus, unlike any other great man that lived in this world, he went into death, but he triumphed over it as the law, as it was said in the Garden of Eden. It shall bruise thy head, but thou shalt bruise his heel.
So that the Lord Jesus went down, He triumphed over Satan, just like David, when he shot that stone and it went into the head of Goliath. And then he went and he cut off his head with his own sword. A picture of the Lord Satan had the power of death.
The Lord took Satan's own sword, cut off his head to triumph, and returned with it. And so he returns the the mighty victor. And that is so important when others suggest what about other great men and great leaders? We have and we only have arisen Savior.
The story told of the French ministry at the time of Napoleon. There was one of the French ministers named Telerand and one of the.
Ministers of the government came to tell around and told him that he was disappointed that his new religion feel philosophy wasn't making very great headway. Well, the old minister quietly replied, he said. I can tell you.
How you can succeed immediately. So how is it? What is it? Well, he says you go and be crucified and then you rise from the dead the third day and go around performing miracles. And he says you'll have a great success. We'll Needless to say, the wise minister went off in silence. He couldn't come up to the requirements. That was necessary to bring to the attention of people what is real.
So you can take, you can take Mohammed. Well, they go to make a worship at his Sepulchre. There is a tree in China where Confucius is buried and they go there, the Confucius, to celebrate their great leaders. There's Buddha in India, all those men that are heads of great religions, but where are they?
They lived. They got followers. They died. What about our leader, beloved? What about our Savior? Oh, yes, he lived. He went through this scene too. He died a shameful death on the cross. But where is he? God raised him from the dead and seated him at his own right hand in highest glory. Where he is seated at this moment. And their friends that your Savior.
And you can have that savior and talk to him and tell him that you're a poor lost Sinner and accept him as the one who died for you this very day.
00:25:03
And that's when the new order came in, and all its fullness, was it not when the Lord Jesus arose, and was wet on high, and received the Spirit, and poured forth, as it says in Acts 2. This, this which he now see and hear, This was the new Order.
Really. The Kingdom of God that was introduced?
An entirely new order of things that was never known before.
So that Christianity is characterized now by the presence of the Spirit of God here in this world. But the last part of this verse that we are reading.
Says the 21St become the first fruits of them that slept. Now here we have the side that applies to the believer, the first fruits of them that slept.
I believe there are three parts of the knot. To the first resurrection, Christ is the first fruits, and afterwards they that are Christ at his coming. And then there's the day coming when there will be martyrs slain, and they'll be raised as we have in the 14th chapter of Revelation. And that'll be the end of the first resurrection.
You mentioned about a new order. It reminds me that this.
Chapter and resurrection is found in this epistle to the Corinthians, which is addressed to the Church of God, which is at Corinth, and we find in the first chapter the Cross.
Is brought before us the cross, not so much as that which puts away our sins, but that which brings to an end man in the flesh. And I was thinking in this chapter, which is in a sense the last chapter apart from the the closing portion of the chapter. In chapter 16 we have resurrection that brings before us.
The second man, the last Adam, our Lord Jesus Christ. And I was thinking as to why the apostle brings these two things before the Corinthians. That is the cross in chapter one. That brings before us the clearing, you might say, of man in the flesh. And now we have a new order of manhood brought before us in the person of the Lord Jesus, raised from the dead. Of course, morally he was always.
The second man, the last Adam, even went here on earth, but he takes that place in resurrection and ascension, now at the right hand of God, and he brings it in. I believe because the Corinthians were glorying in men. He says in chapter three that they were walking as men, and there's another place when he said that they should not glory in men, for all things were there. It seems that they were. They were following.
Persons, men were before them, and they were thinking a lot about men. And one of the principles of the Kingdom that we find set forth in Isaiah 2 is that the lofty looks of man shall be brought low, and the Lord alone exalted in that day. And it ends up by saying, see she from man whose breath is in his nostrils. And it seems that the apostle is trying to lead the Corinthians on out of that state where they're looking at men and occupied with men.
That is, men in the flesh, mortal man. But he brings before us in this chapter a man who is of a different order. He is the second man because the first man was deficient. He's the last Adam, because they'll never be another to take his place. It's a new order entirely. And so the the the Kingdom is brought out here and the principle to the Kingdom. That is the moral principles.
Are to be found among the Saints today.
That the lofty looks of man should be brought low, and the Lord alone exalted. And perhaps this was the underlying cause for the difficulties in Corinth, is they had personalities too much before them, men rather than the Lord himself.
Speaking of Christ as the first fruits of them that slept, that refers to all the redeemed who will be caught up to meet the Lord and glory when he comes for his own.
00:30:05
And refers to the fact that the believer will have a glorified body like his blessed Lord.
The Spirit of God often uses very simple, plain illustrations.
And here is one that was well understood then and can be well understood now. The first fruits, of course the first fruits, was the one of the seven feasts of Jehovah. We have in the 23rd of Leviticus, we have the the Feast of the Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and then we have the feast.
Of the wave loaf, the first troop was to be brought to Jehovah.
So the order there is perfect with the subject of the Lord's work, first His death and then His resurrection. Well, we see that not only do we have brought before us His glorious and wonderful resurrection, but we have a pattern of what the the redeemed will be like.
In their glorified state now in these days, of course you, the young people that grow up today.
They are accustomed to see combines in the field, but when I was young it was binders and it was an interesting time when the binder went into the field and began to clip the grain and it began to run into the canvas and was carried up and then the IT was tied in a bundle and kicked out. Well, there's the first fruits, the first bundle, and you could take that bundle and look at it.
And say there's a sample of the whole harvest, that one bundle.
Well, now Christ is the first fruits. What we see in our blessed Lord as a risen man is true, will be true of everyone. When the Lord comes and we go to meet him in the air, That is, we'll get glorified bodies and it tells us like his.
Glorified body. And so if we want to get some thought of what we are to be like in that glorious resurrection state, we have only to look at our Blessed Lord.
Say in the 24th of Luke, there's one passage that is clearly gives us the truth as to what we are Speaking of at this moment.
The 24th chapter of Luke.
It says there in the 36th verse. And as they thus speak, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and said unto them, Peace be unto you. But they were terrified and affrighted to suppose that they had seen the Spirit. And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? And why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself.
Handle me, and see, for a spirit hath not plain, and bones as he seem he have, And when he had thus spoken, he showed them his hands and his feet, and while they yet believed not for joy and wondered.
He said unto them, Have you hear anything, any meat? And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish and oven honeycomb. And he took it, and it ate before them. So it shows that in the resurrection where to have literal bodies, just as the Blessed Lord was laid in the tomb, and on the third day, when the Angel rolled the stone away.
And they looked in his body was gone. And the Angel said, he is risen. He is not here. And now the Lord shows that it's the very same one that they crucified. There were the nail prints in his hands and his feet. Now you notice how accurate and careful scripture is. It doesn't say a spirit hath not flesh shine blood as you see me have His blood was shed at the cross.
00:35:08
And the blood, as we now sit here, is what sustains the life that we possess. The heart pumps it through every fiber of our body. And if that stops, why death follows. But as we get on in the chapter, we see that we have spiritual bodies. So the Lord doesn't say a spirit hath not flesh and blood, but flesh and bones.
To the same body, but it was a body in resurrection. And now I think it's well to lay hold of that because then the large part of Christendom that's completely given up. I know that I I had a funeral one time and wasn't in the meeting and they asked a certain minister to share it with me while he offered a prayer. But as we went to the cemetery.
I told him that I couldn't.
Go through the regular ritual of earth to earth, dust to dust. Because I said that body might never go to dust should the Lord come. Oh, he says that all the bodies going back to the to the dust, everybody nothing will ever let be raised. And yet he was a fundamental preacher and yet he would not listen for a word to the fact that the very literal bodies of those.
Who are redeemed are to be raised again and a glorified state. So beloved, lay hold of that because it's being given up in Christendom that you take Christ as your savior, and if you haven't taken him as your savior, now is the time to accept him and all the wonders of it. Your soul is saved, but someday your body is to be redeemed too, and you're to have a body like his glorious body. And you can see from what I read in Luke 24.
That it's a literal body. The Lord could show the very nail Prince in his hands and feet.
And even eat before them, showing how true and how literal was the body that he had taken. Now as a risen man. The little difference in the thought of the 4th chapter of First Thessalonians and here in that there it's a question of the rapture, and it's really the present hope of the believer to be caught away even without dying.
But here we have the resurrection mentioned. And you recall how Paul?
In his ministry he speaks of.
In Philippians how he would like to have even part there he wanted to be associated with the Lord in in everything that he passed through fellowship, his sufferings, even the resurrection. Well now in the in this.
21St verse we have man mentioned.
In two ways.
For since by man.
Came there, That was Adam.
My man came also the resurrection.
Of the dead.
I suppose the thought is out from among the dead, isn't it?
So that.
Because the children were partakers of flesh and blood, Christ partook of the same.
But here we must remember that there's 1000 paces between the Ark and the people who passed over Jordan, and although Christ became a man, is entirely different in one sense.
From all others, because that very same person that we are Speaking of.
As we have in Colossians, in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. So we must remember this when we take up this subject, that there is a distinct difference. And yet he was a perfect man, and he will be a man for all eternity. And so here it says.
Were since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
00:40:06
Or that resurrection which takes men out from among the dead, is really the thought I believe. For as in Adam all die, that is all that connected with Adam, If that's all they have, Even so in Christ shall all be made alive. Now false doctrine has been raised in connection with this, saying that all will be raised.
And in blessing, because Christ died. But that's not the teaching here. The teaching is in connection with the subject of Corinthians, and that is those are in Christ. It's a question of those who are in Christ.
In Christ shall all be made alive, so everyone who is in Christ, Even so in Christ.
Shall all be made alive.
But we thought.
Ephesians chapter One.
Ephesians chapter One.
Speaking there in the 13th verse, in whom ye also trusted after that he heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that you believe you were sealed for that Holy Spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession under the praise of his glory.
What is a purchase? Possession.
Don't you think that if you take the full subject, it's the Lord taking the whole Kingdom?
Everything being made subject to him, he bought the field before he got the treasure, but you could also I sure use it in connection with the body, that the body is already redeemed.
Already purchased, but it's not yet redeemed. Is that right before you get Now is our salvation nearer than when we believe that's that's you get. I believe in the 13th of Romans, isn't it? Now is our salvation near than when we believe so? That might seem a little strange to some. We say that we're saved. And how is our salvation nearer then than when we believe your brother is to say your father used to say brother Hale?
There were only half Saints.
Our soldiers say, but not our bodies.
And that's right, isn't it? Because our bodies are redeemed, but they're they're purchased, but they're not yet redeemed.
It says does not waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
Just thinking in this passage here though that we don't want to lose sight of the fact that the wicked dead are going to be raised and justice as Adam by his sin brought in death. There wouldn't have been any resurrection whatever if Adam hadn't brought him death, but that wasn't the end of Adam's existence before God and so Allah Adam actually physically died. Death is only the separation of the body and the spirit.
It says in James One, the body without the Spirit is dead, and so those who have died are conscious, but their body has been laid in the grave. But the spirit has been separated from the body. But because of man's sin, there is also going to be a resurrection, and the wicked are going to have to be raised and stand before God and give an account for the deeds done in the body. But for us, who are the Lords, we're the first fruits of the work of Christ.
We share in that glorious and blessed work, and so I was wondering if there wasn't a distinguishing thought.
That in the 20th verse it says then that slept and in the 21St verse it says the resurrection of the dead. Believers are spoken out of sleeping in Christ, but the dead are going to be raised indeed when they stand before the great White throne, as Albertus commented to us many times.
00:45:05
I saw the death, small and great stand before God. They died in their sins, they're raised in their sins. They're still spiritually dead, but they come forth there to be judged and have to meet God because of that. And I had just wondered if there wasn't a little distinction between what we have in the 20th verse, the first fruits of them that slept, the blessed portion of those who belong to Christ. But then the fact that.
Man brought in sin, but he hasn't put an end to his responsibility to God by death. No, because he has sinned and brought him death, he's still going to have to be raised and he's still going to have to stand before God and give an account. And as it tells us in Hebrews 9, it says it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment. But the blessed portion. That is particularly the theme as it's been remarked in this chapter.
Is the results of the work of Christ for the believer. And we share in that mighty triumph that the Lord Jesus wrought over sin. And Satan, so he has an old death for us. Well, if you take it as a matter of bringing in.
Life and in another sense, not the life of a believer. You get that in the 5th chapter of John.
That the hour cometh when all are in their graves, shall hear his voice, and shall come forth. Now he distinguishes between 2 resurrections. They that have done good unto the resurrection of life, they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation.
So in one sense.
Whether it be the resurrection of the believer which takes place when the Lord comes in the air and the dead in Christ shall rise first, or whether it be at the time of the great white throne judgment, all that are in their graves are going to hear His voice. For God has committed all judgment on the Son, and He is the one that has complete control.
Even in connection with those that are dead and buried.
In that thought then included in this 22nd verse, I'm not clear about it.
Is the thought that Christ having risen from among the dead and now being alive? Here's, here's the voice that will call forth not only those who sleep in Christ, but also call forth those who are dead.
Is that thought included in this? Well, if you want to take the authority of J&D, he brings that in. He says, if anywhere, trying to reason that there's hopes for those who have died in their sins. He says it's simply that Christ is the one, according to all that are in their grave, shall hear his voice. You can bring that into this verse, and I believe that is a correct thought.
Now I just call attention to Acts, the 17th chapter, a well known verse that's used in the gospel.
And rightly so, the.
31St verse.
Because he hath that's Acts 1731, because he hath appointed a day.
In the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, Whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead.
Now this. This strikes terror into the heart of those who have rejected him. You get an illustration of this with Herod.
He had put John the Baptist to death and when he heard of Jesus.
He thought that John the Baptist was raised from the dead because his heart was full of terror. He was dealing now with the Kingdom that he had no power over, no authority over. It was something new that he didn't know about. And so this verse really shows the center that he's going to have to stand before God in a resurrection.
00:50:01
Body. We're not told what kind of a body, but he's going to stand there in a resurrection body.
And give account of all the deeds done in that body in that coming day. There's a very solemn scripture which is often used in the gospel that he will have to give an account. But oh how blessed this verse is for us that we're reading in Christ.
It says in Christ shall all be made alive. And the principal thought here perhaps is that.
Is for our comfort that we're going to be raised and we're going to be just like Christ.
In that day when we're raised.
Isn't it so that the 26th verse of our chapter refers to the wicked dead being raised? If death is destroyed, they must come forth in life. And we read in the 20th of Revelation that the the death and hell of the grave there delivered up the dead which were in them.
They were judged according to their works, so that would account for the wicked Dead Rising. Not in the same way as we will be in a glorified body, of course, but they will be raised to stand there, to be judged.
Now verse quoted in John 5 is really there's 1000 years.
Between the two resurrections, I believe In fact, should we just suggest that from the 24th verse through the 28th we have a sort of a parenthesis here?
We could say that the 2020 through the 23rd verse connects particularly with later verses such as the 29th.
And the verses that follow, whereas we have something very distinct in this 24th through the 28th verses.
Spoke about 1000 years between. There's no question or doubtless to that, because in the 20th chapter of Revelation, yet we get absolutely and possibly stated in that way. In the 20th chapter of Revelation it says in the sixth verse, blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection.
On such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him 1000 years.
But before that it says.
In the fifth verse, the rest of the dead lived not again until notice that until the thousand years were finished. Then speaking again of the subject of the first resurrection, he says, this is the first resurrection. Then on the 11Th verse, and I saw a great white throne in him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was no place found for them.
And I saw the dead, small and great stand before God. Now that is definitely.
The second resurrection, isn't it? The first resurrection will be complete when all the martyrs of the tribulation period have been raised and they all seem seated together there.
In the that fourth verse of the 20th of Revelation and then you get the this statement.
This is the first resurrection. It's complete and blessed, and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection. Then the rest of the dead live not again until the thousand years were finished. Then we see them raised, We see them standing before the Great White throne, and it must be in their bodies, because they've been raised and judged according to their works.
The.
The thought in the Lord having he must reign Juliet football enemies under his feet. It was the first Adam that brought in all the ruin. The result of his sin has brought in a scene of ruin. And who can restore? Who can put things in order according to the mind and character of God? Well, only that one, the second man and last Adam. So he sets everything in order.
00:55:17
Brings out of glory to God, because all that God is in his heart of love and grace is told out so that in the new creation he will associate with Him those who have been brought in by grace. Through that redemption work on Calvary to share in the result of all he accomplished there at the cross and saw the thought in the last enemy being destroyed is that.
By his fall brought in Death. Who could remove death so that there would be a scene where Death never could enter again? Well, the Lord Jesus is the one who's going to do that, and not until the judgment of the great white throne will that have been fully accomplished. It is important for us to notice that when it speaks about all bowing the knee in Philippians 2, it says things in heaven.
Things in earth and things under the earth are infernal beings. All will have to bow the knee and own Jesus as Lord. But when it speaks in Colossians one about the reconciliation of all things, it only speaks of things in heaven and things in earth.
Because the Lord Jesus who sets everything right, he sets it right in heaven and in earth about the sad and awful consequences of sin, will be under the judgment of God in that place where that was prepared for the devil and his angels, the lake of fire.
So that the last enemy destroyed is not the annihilation of the wicked, but it is simply the reconciliation of all things in heaven and in earth, And the work of the sun, having become the 2nd man and last Adam, is not completed.
Until there is a new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness, where God is All in all. And I believe that is what He is bringing before us. And so it goes on to show us that this one who is going to accomplish that must be God and must also be man. Because God will not be frustrated in his purposes. He created a scene of which man was to be the head.
New creation is going to display a scene of which man is the head, but that man is gone.
And so he takes the place of man. He takes the place of subjection in that new creation. And there we see God is All in all. I believe it's the whole Godhead, the Father having purposed this, the Son having accomplished it.
The Spirit of God, the power by which it's accomplished, and all is brought to a glorious fruition.
Hasn't been frustrated. We have been brought into blessing and oh what a scene. It will be all brought about by this one who went into Death and rose again.
That's the second Psalm, isn't it? And that's taken up in Hebrews to show that that same one who is God.
He comes down and dies as a man, and there are four reasons given there for his taking that place in the Hebrews, the second chapter.
He does it to make atonement and satisfy all the claims of God.
But he doesn't. He goes into death to fulfill all the counsels of God.
But it also tells us that he went into death to annull or.
Really the thought is to know the power of him that had the power of death, as we have in our chapter here.
He has God had given that power first, that he annuls it. He has the power to take it away again, but also deliver those who are under it.
We're told, But then the last thought, of course, is the book of Hebrews, and that is.
That he might become a merciful and faithful high priest. But I was thinking of that in connection with my brother Hale's remarks, and also.
01:00:01
This portion we have now from the 24th verse on. Then cometh the end. Now that is the end of time. I believe that's when the Lord Jesus has accomplished all these things.
Is spoken of as the fullness of times. I believe in another place.
Is the completing of everything that has to do with bringing the whole creation into order before God.
And the Lord Jesus is the one who does it. And so when he accomplishes this.
Why then he delivers up the Kingdom to God?
Why does it say even the Father?
That's a precious thought, is it not?
You know, I've connected this with.
In the Old Testament, when someone stole, they were to not only if they were found out, restore that which they had stolen, but they were also to add a fifth part to it.
Now the Lord Jesus.
Fully restored, we're told.
In the 69th Psalm and the thought is given in John one as well.
Then restored I that which I took not away.
But he didn't stop there.
That type is fulfilled in the work of Christ.
He brings in blessing, fuller and richer, and greater than was ever known before, not only for.
The one who's redeemed but for the whole creation.
The whole creation is brought into a fuller and a richer place than was ever known before because Jesus died.
And so his work has glorified God in a very special way.
And I suppose that's connected with the thought in John 10.
Therefore doth my Father love me because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.
This commandment have I received from my Father, the Lord Jesus.
Did everything. Even this, this 5th part, he did everything.
In perfect obedience to His Father's will. It was his Father's purpose.
That the blessing should be greater and fuller and richer than anything that was known before as a result of the.
Death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and so, brethren.
We have not been put back into the Garden of Eden. Where have we been put? Adam was driven out of the garden so he couldn't eat of that tree. But we find in Ephesians even the overcomers given to eat of that tree. And in Revelation 22 we will have that portion for all eternity to eat the full ripe fruit of the Tree of Life forever.
I remember Brother Potter killing how he was delivered.
From a false doctrine by this verse they that are Christ that is coming there is a brother that.
Thought that there was a partial.
Resurrection or or a partial company would go to meet the Lord that only the faithful would go, and the illustration was of Elijah being caught up to heaven and found that Elijah was left, that there would be a part, I should say a partial rapture.
Only the faithful would go when the Lord comes in the air. Well, he said. I lost the hope that night, he said. I went off saying I'm not faithful. So the sad thing is that when the Lord comes, I'll not go. But he said in the night this verse came to mind.
They that are Christ at his coming. Well, he says, I know I belong to Christ, and so I know now that when he comes, I'm going to go to meet him in the air.
They that are Christ, it isn't a question of our faithfulness.
01:05:04
But it's a question of whether or not we have accepted the Lord and we belong to Him. Strange, you know how that doctrine will creep into.
Into the teaching of some that are even renowned for their teaching. I saw in the little book of Hudson Taylor's one time the beautiful writing on on the songs of Solomon. You could see him and see everything till you got to the end. And then he taught a partial rapture.
I showed it to the brother, I said. I just cut that page out of this book. But there was a man that so highly esteemed, and doesn't that tell us brethren, this, that the only thing that can hold the truth is the truth? Well, there are matches to insist on that the only thing that can hold the truth is the truth. And you ever get away from the place and you can easily and perhaps will be misled.
Into many divers and strange doctrines that hinder the blessing to the soul.
There's a verse in John 16 that says when he, the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth. Then it says he shall glorify me, for he shall receive a mind and will show it unto you. And surely we can make a test of all these things when they're presented by just asking, does this doctrine exalt man or does it exalt Christ? Because if we have to classify ourselves as faithful ones.
To have the hope of the Lord's return isn't that the glory of self instead of Christ? But oh how blessed the truth of God is. It gives all the glory to Him. We belong to him by right of redemption. It's the enjoyment of it that may be spoiled by not walking in communion. And so often we're not in fellowship with him, and his hope doesn't have its proper character with us about He receives us because we're his.
We were just commenting back in Ottawa last night at the OR the night before at the Bible reading.
Now that the thought of the rapture is never connected with responsibility, it is always associated with deliverance and affection and.
Taking out of the trials. Here the thought of the appearing is associated with responsibility. Because of the appearing, the results of the judgment seat of Christ will be displayed. Our place in the Kingdom will depend upon faithfulness.
About when he comes. It's just like a father when he returns home. Does he desire that his disobedient child won't want to see him? Oh no, he wants the family relationship to be the predominant thing. He just loves to think I'm going to see my children, I love them. I don't want there to be anything to hinder them coming out and being glad that father has come home. And isn't that the thought always in the rapture comfort one another with these words?
I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am. But when we have the the, the appearing, then we have the thought of responsibility. But I say again, when false doctrines are presented, if we really trace them down to their real teaching, we'll find that it's always to give something of glory to man, something by which he can exalt himself. And the Spirit's teaching is always to glorify Christ.
Is this statement correct that?
Death is destroyed. The last entity that destroyed his death, and that's at the Great White Throne judgment when it says that Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. But in the end of this chapter we get.
Old death, where is I? Sting. Oh great, where is thy victory? The state of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks being to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ, so that death is swallowed up in victory.
When the Lord comes in the air and the dead in Christ rise first.
Would you agree with that statement? Yes, indeed.
01:10:07
We'll make a remark on the 24th verse again. It was mentioned there how precious it is that the Lord will deliver up the Kingdom of to God, even the Father. One is connected that with a thought in John 20 verse 17, where we have the first time revealed to our hearts that the Lord Jesus is returned to glory as a man and he speaks of. I send him to.
My Father and your Father, to my God and your God.
No. And when he delivers up the Kingdom to God, he is still the man in the glory who administers the righteous government on earth. Well, in Luke's Gospel we have the Lord Jesus presented as the Son of Man, and that's what he is in the glory. And he was about his Father's business, and he's still in his Father's business. In that coming day, I thought that it was precious to my soul to see even the Father.
Brought out here.
When you say that he delivers up the Kingdom to the Father, that he still administers the Kingdom. Not then he administers the Kingdom during the during the millennial period, but in the eternal state there's nothing to reign over. That is, all has been brought into order. So reigning has to do with keeping things in order. Nothing of that will be required in the eternal state because.
Righteousness dwells. God is All in all. But now the Lord Jesus is there at the right hand of God, as we have in Hebrews 2. We see not yet all things put under him, but we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death.
Crowned with glory and honor and in Colossians one, it says in the 13th verse.
Who have delivered us from the power of darkness, and have translated us into the Kingdom of His dear Son.
Or the Son of his love. Well, that's where we are. We've been translated into the Kingdom of the Son of His love. And the Father finds delight in that blessed one. And as you remarked, He reveals that name and resurrection. We enjoy that name now by the Spirit.
But all the Father's delight is in the Son and how He's going to accomplish all his purposes. But they won't be all accomplished until the end of the Millennium. And then, as we have been observing, the Great White Throne will take place. All of this contrary to the mind and character of God, completely removed from heaven and earth. Now there is a scene in which God can find his fullest delight, not only His light, but His love.
Because he has associated with him those who know that one who share in that wonderful place, because it's the Son of his love and we are associated with him in that. I would suggest that that's why it says it's delivered up the Kingdom to the Father, because that is going to be the place the Lord Jesus will, if one can speak reverently, occupy for all eternity the Son of the Father's love and we in association with Him.
We can enjoy it now, but he hasn't put everything in order yet, but he will.
We should notice them that there's 1000 years between verse 23 and 24.
Because in verse 23 it's Christ and he's coming. In verse 24 it's the eternal state when everything has been delivered up and that goes on through the 28th verse. But the 23rd verse really connects with the 35th verse, although there is material brought in between which is very instructive. But.
The subject goes on from the 23rd verse, possibly to verses like 35th.
And Speaking of delivering up all to God, I enjoy the thought in them. Revelation chapter 21, where you get the eternal state, the language there is.
It mentions that it's God. God is all. We see that all through that portion, do we not? Whereas in the 21St, 22nd chapter, where it's the Millennium, we see the Lamb brought in there, don't we?
01:15:06
Thing together, 254.
Death and judgment are behind us, and grace and glory are before all the billows rolled over Jesus. There they spent their utmost power.
The judgment for.
Grace by glory.
Stand her eyes on.
1 Corinthians 15:29-38
Reading
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General Meetings, Toledo, November 1976. Second reading meeting.
Born in prison, the Red Sea's judgment project passed in him who bought us with his father #34.
Everybody.
The ninth verse of me to talk to Yeah, I I would suggest those for those who were not here yesterday to read from the 20th to get the connection, although we have gotten down to off the 29th.
1St Corinthians 15 reading from verse 20.
But now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that's left.
Were sensed by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
For as an Adam all died, Even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
But every man in his own order, Christ the first fruits afterward, they that are Christ at his coming.
Then come at the end, when he shall have delivered up the Kingdom to God, even the Father, when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power, for he must reign. Julius put all enemies under his feet.
00:05:15
The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
For he has put all things under his feet, but when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is accepted, which did put all things under him.
And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all the things under him, that God may be All in all.
Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead? And if the dead rise not at all?
Why are they then baptized for the dead? And why stand we in jeopardy every hour?
I protest by your rejoicing, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord. I die daily.
If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantage does it mean if the dead rise not let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die?
Be not deceived evil communications, corrupt good manner.
Awake your righteousness, and sin not for some, but not the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame.
Some man will say, how are the dead raised up and with what body do they come?
Full that which thou sowest had not quicken accepted died, and that which I'll show us, thou sowest not that body that shall be but bear grain, it may chance of wheat, or some other grain.
But God giver that Abazi at his as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body.
All questions, not the same flesh, but there's one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds.
There are also celestial bodies and bodies terrestrial, but the glory of the celestial is 1 and the glory of the terrestrial is another.
There is one glory of the sun and another glory of the moon, another glory of the star.
For one star differs from another star in glory.
So also the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption. It is raised in incorruption.
It is sown in dishonor. It is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness. It is raised in power.
It is sown a natural body. It has raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written. The first man, Adam, was made a living soul. The last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
How be it that was not first, which is spiritual, but that was a natural, and afterward that was just spiritual.
The first manners of the earth earthy the 2nd man is a Lord from heaven.
As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy, and as is the heavenly, such as they also that are heavenly.
And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God.
Neither death corruption inherit incorruption.
Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment the trickling of an eye, the last trump. For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
So when this corruptible shall it put on incorruption, and this mortal shall I put on immortality?
Then shall be brought to pass a saying that is written Death is swallowed up in victory.
Oh death, where is I Sting? Oh grave, where is thy victory?
The string of death is sin. The strength of sin is a law.
But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. For as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
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I think that nothing was specially said.
About the 28th verse. And there's some very precious and important truths in that. First, it's one, I believe, of the three places where you get the eternal seed. You get it here in this 28th verse of our chapter. You get it in the third chapter.
Of second cater where he fixed about the.
Elements being dissolved and then about the how the the new sea. And then we get this. In the 1St 8 verses of the 21St chapter of Revelation where it begins I saw a new heaven and a new earth where it dwelleth righteousness.
So we're more or less limited to these three passages.
Where we get the eternal scene.
But I've often thought that this 28th verse, if anything, carries us farther than the other places where we get the mention of the fact that there's to be a new heaven and a new earth. But here we get the inner thought.
It says that when all things shall be subdued unto him.
Then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be All in all.
See, during the Millennium the Lord is reigning.
But when the eternal scene begins, there's nothing to reign over. Everything is subdued and subject then, and the marvelous thing is that the Son himself becomes subject to him that put all things under him.
Now we know, brethren, that the only light that where there's true happiness, true happiness.
Even as God's children is a life of subjection to the word of God, all our failures can be traced to disobedience. That's where sin came in, through disobedience. And the more we're subject to God's word, the more peace we'll have and the more we'll enjoy communion. In fact, that is the secret of communion.
This objection to the Word of God and enjoyment of the person of Christ.
Look, here's the most remarkable, precious thing that in that eternal scene where will be fully subject when the Lord comes, we enter into a scene where we're perfectly subject to the will of God, which we haven't been or failed in down here.
Then we will be subject. But brethren, think of the Blessed Lord himself.
Identifying himself in that perfect state of happiness and rest and peace through all eternity. We don't need to go any farther than that to think of that one who has won our hearts so precious to us even now by grace, becoming one in that sense of subjection, so that as man he enters into that.
Eternal rest and joy.
When we're with him through that eternity that's before us, well, that's as far as the spirit of God can carry us, and it just leaves us to stand, as it were, in amazement and praise and worship. Did we connect that thought, Brother Barry with the 21St of Exodus?
Reading from the 21St verse of the.
Ronnie, The first verse of the 21St chapter of Exodus. Now these are the judgments which thou shalt set before them. If thou buy in Hebrew servant 6 years he shall serve, and in the 7th year he shall go out free for nothing.
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If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself.
If he were married, then his wife should go out with him.
If his master have given him a wife, and she hath borne him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her masters, and he shall go out by himself.
And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master.
My wife and my children, I will not go out free.
Then his master shall bring in unto the judges, He shall also bring him to the door.
Or under the doorpost, and his master shall bore his ear through with an awe, and he shall serve him forever.
I believe we have connected here.
The thought of the Lord Jesus taking that place in perfection as man forever.
And the place of man is is to to serve.
To be subject, and the Lord Jesus willingly takes that place because he loves his master.
That is, it was God's counsels that this be so.
He was fulfilling the Council's, as we noticed yesterday, in which God himself was to be glorified and when the Lord Jesus speaks of His glories in the first chapter of John.
Where Nathaniel speaks of those glories as the Son of God and the Son of David.
He says. Greater things than these shall ye see.
And then he speaks of his glory as the Son of Man.
And he will remain a man forever.
But what we have here, I believe, connected in these two passages, is that.
He associates.
His children or his bride with himself in this place forever?
And although I'm sure that those 3 passages our brothers called her attention to.
As to the eternal state.
Our in a way, the only ones that give us the full picture. There seems to be a hint in the last verse of Ephesians 3.
In connection with the glory and I thought it might be nice to notice it.
Because I believe it is the eternal state although.
It.
Very brief.
It says the 21St verse of Ephesians 4.
Unto him.
I suppose that refers to.
The expression God just before that unto him be glory in the church, by Christ Jesus, throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. So it seems to me we have a little hint here of the eternal state, do we not of that which will?
Will continue for all eternity.
Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus.
Throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. The churches associated with the Lord Jesus in that eternal glory in which God himself is glorified throughout those eternal ages.
Should we also connect with this what we have in Luke 12 verse 37?
Blessed are those servants from the Lord, when the cometh shall find watching.
Verily, I send to you that he shall gird himself and make him to sit down and meet, and will come forth and serve them. I wondered if that would include the eternal scene as well, where the Lord is leading the praises of his people.
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There are many features in the Millennium that will be also true in the eternal state, because the Millennium is the introduction to the eternal state. So when the Lord gives the shout and calls us home.
Many of the things that we will enter into and enjoy will be eternal in their character, but it is not until the end of the Millennium, and all has been settled according to the mind and purposes of God. The last enemy being destroyed is death. It is not until then that we have the full blessedness of the scene, but we ourselves enter at the rapture into much that is of an eternal character.
And saw some of the scriptures that speak of what we shall enjoy even during the millennial age.
Are of that character, and I have no doubt that during the Millennium the Lord will take that place of ministering to our happiness. But that goes on, as it was mentioned in the 21St of Exodus. It goes on forever. However, the passages referred to that speak exclusively of the eternal state of that which will be characteristic of that state our most marvelous, and they surely lead out our hearts to adoration and praise.
That such a thing will exist that God's beloved Son as a man.
Will have the company of those whom he has redeemed to himself to enjoy that in the place that he has taken in company with him forever, surely? It does fill our hearts with praise, doesn't it?
If you're going to get the outline of this chapter.
It's well to see that the verse where we started reading yesterday, the 20th verse of the chapter, is the beginning of a parenthesis, and that parenthesis ends with the 28th verse at the end of the 28th 1St, and that explains why.
We have in the 29th verse. You'll notice he has been taking up.
In connection with.
The statement that without the resurrections that we would still be in our sins and Paul he says we would be false witness for Christ and he also says.
If there be no resurrection.
That is Christ not raised. That's the 14th verse. And if Christ be not raised, then is our preaching veins. And your faith is also vain. Yeah, we have been found false witnesses of God because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ whom he raised, not up.
If it be that he had the dead rise now, and if the dead rise not then.
There is not Christ raised, and if Christ be not raised.
Faith is vain, and you're giving your sins, then they also, which are fallen asleep in Christ, are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, where all men most miserable, well, you might wonder why he's fixing that way. We're all men most miserable. Why had Paul and those associated with him suffered such terrible persecution if after all there was no resurrection?
There'd be no gain hereafter. Well, you see this. He digresses from his subject in the 21St and proves the truth of Christ's resurrection. And He goes on with that until He carries us into the eternal scene. And then in the 29th verse he returns to his subject at the end of the 21St verse.
Or the 19th verse about our being of all men most miserable, and you connect that then with the 29th verse of our chapter.
Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not?
At all? Why are they then baptized for the dead? You see what the apostle is speaking about.
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Is their persecutions and sufferings, and they as his servants, being of all men, most miserable. And that brings in this thought of the.
Being baptized for the dead.
It simply is more or less of a military figure. That is, the soldiers in the front line in battle will say are shot down and those in the next.
For all they step forward and fill the place of those that have fallen. In other words, they're baptized for the dead. That is, we don't want to get the thoughts of Christian baptism in this. First of all, they're simply taking the place of those who have been in the forefront of the battle. And the apostles were those who had been in the forefront. And we can see it in our day, too. They have been.
Laborers who have served Christ.
And they are gone. And now the testimony continues.
And younger men that are growing up and sitting under the ministry, should the Lord tarry a while longer, will be called upon to fill the place of those that the Lord has taken home to be with himself. So there is really in this being baptized for the dead.
A very practical word for all our young brothers.
For someday you will find yourself if a few years goes on and the Lord hasn't come with a shout.
In the place of responsibility in connection with the testimony of being gathered to the Lords name alone, and in connection with the gospel testimony too, so that that's the simple meaning of being baptized for the dead, just leave out Christian baptism. I entirely out of the verse. It doesn't have anything to do with that, but it does have to do with those who are.
Going on filling the place of those who have.
Fought the faithful fight and have gone on and are no longer here.
That's why it speaks of standing in jeopardy, isn't it? Every hour.
And I suppose that.
In these 30.
In 31St and 32nd verses.
Paul is Speaking of his.
His encounter with the idolaters at Ephesus.
Who withstood the apostles. They tried to give out the truth. I suppose that's the thought of the beast mentioned. It was the idolaters who worshipped the great goddess Diana in the 19th chapter of Acts that Paul refers to as it not and.
They they withstood the testimony. It was a it was a definite act of it was a great work going on there. It was at the time when.
In a certain city they they took all of their books and burnt them, and the Spirit of God was working. And so the enemy began to work, and this subject of idolatry and worshipping.
The goddess of Diana came up and there was a tumult about it and the town clerk had to settle it. But I suppose that's what Paul is referring to when he he speaks of if after the manner of men. I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, he says, why stand we in jeopardy every hour?
Our protest by your rejoicing.
I have in Christ Jesus our Lord. I die daily. Now may I connect that with a verse in Second Corinthians?
And the 4th chapter.
And the 11Th verse.
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For we which live are always delivered unto death, for Jesus sake that the life also of Jesus.
Might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So then death worketh in us, but life in you now the 13th verse is what I have in mind, we having the same spirit.
Now that's a quotation from the Old Testament in connection with those who suffered for the testimony.
For we having the same spirit of faith, according as is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken.
We also believe and therefore speak.
Paul is is seeking to maintain a testimony under persecution. He stands in jeopardy every hour and not only is the believer seen in the position of death.
That's the way God sees the believer. As to his position down here in this world, ye are dead in Colossians.
But in Romans, the believer.
Is to reckon himself dead.
But Paul also speaks in this Second Corinthians of how he was delivered unto death for Jesus sake. And that's a further point, is it not? And Paul has given himself over entirely to the testimony. Whatever may happen. It might mean death, it might mean imprisonment, whatever it is.
It's it's a question of the testimony so precious to his heart.
That why he brings the resurrection in there too. In that verse you refer to. That's carried out a little later in the chapter.
Philippians he speaks about.
He says.
In Philippians chapter 3 and the.
10th verse.
That I may know him of the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. And he says in the first chapter to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
A man of the world naturally wants to make everything he can out of this life, because this is all he has.
Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. The whole Christian attitude is different.
That is, death to him is only that which takes him into the presence of the Lord.
His purpose in being here is not the question of how long he can live, but rather that he should glorify Christ in his life, and in that sense he dies daily. If devotedness to Christ brings in death, it says in Hebrews 12.
You have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. The Lord Jesus would rather die than disobey. His purpose in life was to glorify His Father, and so with us. Unless we have that thought in our mind, we'll be unfaithful. We'll put lice before obedience and devotedness to Christ. But if we have the true perspective, our whole life is associated with what is beyond.
As it says, we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.
For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. And so I believe we could say that it has also a double application. And that is when it speaks about reckoning ourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, or bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus. And we see ourselves as dead and risen with Christ, and seek to live in the power of that new life. Living in that way may involve something more than just.
Reckoning ourselves dead, it may involve actual death. It did with the Apostle Paul. He was martyred for Christ, and so he's encouraging them here to have the right prospect of in life. It isn't to live. And unless we have this right perspective, we'll be stepping aside from the path of obedience in order to get what we might say the best we can out of life. And this is what he is showing, if we're living on the principle.
Let us eat and drink and living for this world. We are living on the principle as though this life was the important thing. But if we have learned the truth of what is set before us in this chapter, and then we see that it's what is beyond is the important thing. We recognize that even in baptism, and that is going into death and coming up. And so here it's so important, I believe that we should see this.
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And unless we do that, our practice gets down to the level of the world. Who has the wrong outlook? This life is everything to them. The light to come is everything to the one who has learned what we have presented in this chapter.
Before you'd say too that speaking about the Light to Come is connected, as he insists on here with the resurrection, if all were to have in glory.
Is our disembodied souls. It's such a forethought. It has no great future that it could present to us. That is just giving up everything and that is much the state that Christendom is in. Remember my parents attending a funeral of a little girl in our neighborhood? And he is telling about what the preacher said. He likened the spirit of this little girl.
Like a little bird on the tree of life singing its little song. Well, when you begin to make things so fancy as that, why there's nothing real and you're not, It's not at all surprising that those who have nothing else soon go into modernism and soon into infidelity, because they have nothing, no real foundation to rest upon. But when you bring in the resurrection?
That, as you have said, Brother Hale, that the real purpose of life lies beyond it, is in connection with the resurrection of the body. That is where to have glorified bodies like our Blessed Lord, and to exclude that where you have just taken everything from us. And so we just better go on as he said, the spirit of the world.
As it says, let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die if all we have is just a sort of a.
Imaginary idea of a spirit beyond, well, you really haven't anything, but when you bring in the actual resurrection that these very bodies.
In which we are sitting here tonight and listening and reading the word together.
Are revealed bodies of glory like His glorious body. And in these very bodies we're to spend eternity with Christ. Or then we have a subject of such vast importance that we can in some measure enter into the the spirit of the Apostle who says we believe, and therefore have we spoken. I take that he's spoken regardless of the consequences. No matter how much suffering it might cause, he was going to.
Give out the testimony that have been given to him because of the glory of future that was before him.
That verse in second Timothy brother Barry.
Second Timothy one and.
12.
That's quoted so often the last part of it. I wonder if you had a thought on that.
First two Timothy 1:00 and 12:00.
I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against.
That day.
Well, I think it's right in line with what we're speaking about. He left it all in view of the coming day when all that has been.
Laid aside and given up to serve, the Lord will have its reward in that day to come. You see, the last verse of our chapter is so comes in in such a powerful way.
He says, Therefore, my beloved brethren, the steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. For as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord, that's his conclusion to the subject.
That.
Christ is risen, and that we're to have glorified bodies like him and be in a scene of glory for all eternity with with himself.
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So now, instead of giving up and justice drifting along with this poor world, trying to get everything it can out of the present scene, Why, he can say that your labor is not in vain in the Lord that's looking into that coming scene when we're in our bodies of glory and will be rewarded in those very bodies in which we have sought to live for him here below.
I have wondered, brethren, if we if we look at Mark chapter 8 for a moment, I have thought of this part of the mark in connection with the 1St Corinthians 15.
It tells us in mark chapter 8 and verse.
Verse 23 The Lord Jesus took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town. And when he had spit on his eyes and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw us. And he looked up and said, I see men as trees walking. After that he put his hands again upon his eyes and made him look up, and he was restored and saw every man clearly.
We then find when we go on to the 27th verse, Jesus asks them his disciples, whom do men say that I am? And after they have given us very given various answers in the 31St verse he says he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected of the elders and of the chief priests and scribes and be killed and after three days rise again.
And he spake that saying openly, Peter took him, and began to rebuke him. And the Lord has to say to Peter, gets he behind me, Satan? For thou savor is not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men. Then we find the Lord Jesus saying, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, But whosoever shall lose his life for my sake, and the gospel shall save it.
It has seemed to one's own soul that we have what we might call in miniatures, what we've had before us here in One Corinthians. Our brother Johnson drew our attention yesterday to the fact that in Corinth there was a great deal of making much of men. Well, I believe that's what we have pictured in the fact of them saying, the blind man saying that he saw men as trees walking, that is, he saw a man looming very large in his eyes.
And he needed that second touch, that in clarification of his view by the Lord Jesus, so that he then saw all men clearly. Then we find that the Lord Jesus introduces the thought of rejection and resurrection. But Peter finds that this is not palatable, and the Lord Jesus has to rebuke him by saying, Thou savor is not the things which be of God.
But the things which be of men and brethren, is that not the very thing that happens when we lose sight of the fact that we are identified with a rejected and risen Savior, we find our hearts are taken up with the things that be of men. We can in in a sense, say, like they do here in First Corinthians 15, eat and drink for tomorrow we die. That is, our hearts are taken up with things here. But then we find, as our brother Barry brought before us, that there is that being baptized for the dead.
And so the Lord Jesus speaks of those who take up their cross, Take up the cross, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. And so we find there are those who have gone on, and we find those who are stepping forward and taking up the cross and filling up the ranks and seeking to go on for the Lord. And then we find, as we've had brought before us this morning, in a most remarkable way, this sense of losing.
Our life, it actually says, whosoever will save his life.
Shall lose it. But whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel shall save it. And there is such a thing, brethren, it seems to me as a Christian having a saved soul but a lost life. That is, that he finds his heart taken up with things here. He saves his life for himself. But God says the result is he loses it, He loses it. It's it's lost in eternity.
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Not his soul, but what could have been For Christ is lost. But the one who loses his life, whether it's an actual death or whether it's in the sense of dying daily, the life surrendered to Christ. The truth of God brought out here is that he doesn't lose his life at all. Really. He loses it as far as this world is concerned. But in the records of eternity, the life is safe.
Yes, I believe that's very important what you said, Brother John, because I think we need that word. I die daily because it's a constant exercise and sometimes we're liable to say, well, I was faithful as long as I could be, but the pressure got too great. Well with the Apostle Paul, he would rather die than do anything that dishonored his Lord and saw as he stood on trial. The important thing to him was not whether he received his life.
The only thing he thought of Well, if the Lord wants me to live, it's to be useful to the people of God.
As he says in the first chapter, he said, to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.
But otherwise there was number, purpose at all. He would rather that the Lord would take him home. And if we give up under certain pressure and give up the path of devotedness to Christ, and then and what is it for? Just what you said to gain this life, and it's all going to be lost in eternity. Far better to suffer and possibly even die in the path of devotedness. And that is what I believe our brother had in mind in Second Timothy one and verse 12.
Often that verse is taken as applying to salvation now, that is, that we have committed the future of our souls to the Lord and we know that we're saved. But the verse involves much more than that. It's a daily, constant thing. Do we live our lives in such a way that we can just commit it all to the Lord and say, well, it's not how it appears in this life, it's how it's going to appear when it's all manifested in His presence.
Where only what is of Christ will abide and be for his glory in that day.
When we look ahead to the time when the beast will have sway, and those who are alive in that day and want to be faithful to their Lord refuse the mark of the beast and have to pay such a price for their faithfulness, we admire their faithfulness and we recognize what a tragic thing it would be for the for any to, under pressure, accept that mark. But in a sense, we are faced with the same challenge today daily, aren't we?
Not as severely as will be the case in the coming day, but I believe that some of us realize that the dear young people who are growing up are being faced with very, very severe and real pressures. Not only the young people, all of us, but it is good for them to remember what we've just had brought before us in the scriptures.
There's another word for all.
Because the young people.
But it includes all where he says evil communications, corrupt good manners. That is, if we associate ourselves with those that have no heart for Christ or not his, and are just living for time, have no desire for what lies beyond this life.
And we be holding her false doctrines like those in current that were denying the resurrection.
Why it says a corrupting influence about it and that is comes in here as a word of warning as to those that we're have as our companions are those that we are associated with. For if we make companions of those who have no heart for Christ, you might even be professors, but they don't want to please the Lord. And even though maybe that have a certain amount of gospel truth but don't.
Want to accept the truth of being gathered to the Lord's name.
We have to be on our guards and watchful, for we can soon be LED astray. For the enemy is very cunning and very shrewd about getting us deceived and going the wrong direction. So there is a very serious word of evil communications, corrupted manners, and I know that in your business you have to be associated with.
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Unbelievers. In fact, Paul tells us that if we only associated with Christians, we'd have to go out of this world. You buy in the store, maybe a store run by an ungodly man. You do business there. Maybe you work for some company and the boss is an unbeliever. Well, you have to be subject to those that are over you, and you're only a servant there.
The word you find yourselves when your days labor is over. Remember about the disciples. They were held by the Sanhedrin and were tried before those ungodly men they forced to do that.
But where did they go when they were released? It tells us that they went to their own company. Beloved, what a word that is for us when we're free. Do we go to our own company? Remember dear brother Potters, someone saying to him one time about going to a general meeting? He always insisted on calling it the general meeting. You know, he said have you any scripture for not going? Instead of saying, have you a scripture for going, have you any scripture for not going?
Well, it's a happy thing. But remember that even at a meeting like this, we can be just here to get the the benefits of the kindness and hospitality of those here without being really exercised about such ministry as we heard yesterday. And I was very glad for what the brother said and I think it's a word that should exercise many.
About having in your home what only leads to corruption and violence. He doesn't mention anything, but he just put that as a word of warning.
To us all, have you in your home, that which will teach your children corruption and violence.
The day of Laodicea, the principles of it are already among us and.
What I was thinking especially was the ISAB that's needed.
As well as the garments mentioned, we may not.
We may still have a sense of the gold.
That is tried in the fire. We may have that sense of security.
In the salvation that's been provided for us, but there should be an exercise with us.
As to the garments that correspond to it, as we have in the in Laodicea, Laodicea was rich and increased in goods, and there is a sometimes a tendency, especially when we come together with so many.
A sense of as though we were something or that we had something, when we have to realize that we're in the very last days of the Church's history and what we have.
Is something like the picture we see with Peter as he's about to sink on the water.
The Lord lifts, raises his arm out, and he puts it around Peter.
So he won't sing. Now that's where we are, brethren. We're in that position where the Lord is holding us up and there's a danger with us.
Of saying well, we have the truth and sitting back, but we must remember there's the daily exercise as to the truth, the practice of it, or there will be losing a sense of discernment that we need.
In every step that we take through this world, I know in Laodicea the full sense of it is really an unbeliever. But the principles of Laodicea can come in and take hold of a believer, that is that he loses a sense of his direction. He loses a sense in his walk of what is pleasing to God. He takes on the character of the religious world, especially around which is the great danger for us in these last days.
And I believe that that's why partly the apostle was given to write the epistle to Colossians, because in the last days the principles of Corinth.
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Are seen, that is those who had the position, those who had intelligence in natural things, and they used it in connection with divine things and their reasoning.
And these are the things we have to be careful of. We have to have that discernment that we get through communion to keep us. You know, the young man in book of Proverbs who was carefully guarded by his parents and instructed.
Fell Why? Because he didn't have wisdom, and it's through wisdom that we get that discernment.
Now wisdom comes through.
Through dependence, being on our knees before God.
And so if we have that, if we have that one thing, one may have all the instruction that we get in our home by our parents, we may have all that, and yet we may fall, because there has to be a personal, daily communion with the Lord, regardless of all the instruction, intelligence, and divine things that we may have. Otherwise we will not be kept.
Rather in connection with this verse where it speaks about evil communications corrupt good manners.
The same to my own soul, that perhaps we also have the thought in this verse of how bad teaching can affect our walk through this world.
For instance, we have those who would teach us that the Lord's coming for us is not until after the tribulation is over. Now, what effect does this have upon us? It's an evil communication, and it affects our walk.
So that we find ourselves, if we accept that teaching false evil as it is, that we settle down in this world. We have those who would teach us another evil communication, That our purpose here is to improve the world, and the result is that good matters. That is a walk consistent with what God would have us to be in. This world is corrupted, and we find ourselves going into the world to try to improve a scene that we're not part of at all.
We have those who would teach us or seek to teach us that it doesn't matter where you meet together. It doesn't matter what company you're gathered with. Everyone, after all, can't be sure, and so you're free to go where you choose Again. It's an evil communication and it corrupts the walk before God. It leaves that man Abram, man, free to do what is right in his own eyes, and he leads himself and others with him.
Into false paths. And so it seems here that also we have the thought of the denial of the resurrection, an evil communication, and it corrupted good manners, because the effect of it is to make the heart say eat and drink for the more we die. Then in the next verse he says awake to righteousness and sin not because all this leads to sin. And then he shames them. For some have not the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame.
Oh, there are many that we would find all around us and.
That happens, the instruction that we are given, who are not taught in the assembly meetings, the truth of God's Word. And to think that we who are instructed will turn away from the teaching of the Word, pick up with the ways of this godless scene, and going into what is not the truth as we are.
Taught so clearly here.
And adopt the doctrines that are popular in the world is to our shame to think, brethren, that we are listening to the pure, undiluted troes of God's word. I mentioned yesterday Brother Armand's statement that the only.
Thing that can hold the truth is the truth.
And it's a remarkable thing, and I believe it's possibly true.
There to be gathered to the Lord's name on the ground of the one body, is the only place in this world where the whole truth of the word of God can be put into practice. Is that right?
01:00:11
I'm sure yes. That's why Paul said that when we're in the path of the truth, we are ready unto every good work.
There are many good works can be done by those who are not fully in the path of obedience, but they can't do every good work unless they're in the full path of obedience to the word of God.
I was telling about that man that taught that partial rapture well. It was only a short time after he taught that in the Chicago meeting before he was put away for false doctrine. So it shows that the sheep are protected in the place where the Lord is in the midst and where the Spirit of God dwells.
And we have that protection that you not find elsewhere. I don't think that anyone could come among us and deny the eternal sonship of Christ without He'd be checked up and he would be brought to task for his false doctrine. We're in a place where the sheep are cared for and where false doctrines are judged.
I heard that statement quite a good many times as a young fellow and never really understood it. Only the truth can keep the truth and I really didn't know what it meant at all. But.
I appreciate it. I believe it's true, and I believe it should be greatly valued. I hope it doesn't give a sense of spiritual pride in any way whatsoever.
But suppose that a company of real believers who appreciated the truth of Scripture.
Were to band together and call themselves the fundamentalist believers of Toledo and the appointed so and so as their pastor, and they were absolutely determined that they were never going to give up any of the fundamental truths of Scripture. They were going to be true to the word of God. It wouldn't be possible because they have actually abandoned the basic principle of truth in order to get together and call themselves by such a name and appoint so and so as their pastor.
It wouldn't be very long until those things that they valued were compromised and given up. But I I believe I can say, and I hope with just a sense of real Thanksgiving to the faithfulness of our Lord Jesus Christ, that in visiting in areas where you would.
Perhaps expect something to have crept in. Excuse a personal reference, but I remember the first time I went to the West Indies.
They counted back over a period of 50 years and they had had five visitors in 50 years.
And I sat down among them, and they had this precious book, and they sat down there to enjoy the wonders of its message, to remember the Lord Jesus. And I sat down there in amazement.
As I saw the precious privilege of remembering the Lord Jesus.
Carried out in a way that really stirred my heart. And as I saw the way in which the spirit of God had preserved the truth among them in such weakness, it really thrilled my soul. I'm going to give you an example.
Because on one occasion one of those dear and faithful brothers and I together were on a little island, the island of Bequeath, and no sooner had we set foot on the islands.
That I spotted another white man, the only other white man on the island. And he spotted me and came over and he said my name is Dirksen from Saskatchewan. What are you here for? And I said, well, to preach the gospel. Oh fine, I know the Lord is my savior. And he said I'm holding a service with my congregation down the down the way this evening. Come along and you can do the preaching.
Well, here we are, the only two white men on the island, and I knew what the thoughts of those around us would be.
And I hesitated, asking the Lord for wisdom to answer him faithfully, but not too severely. And my beloved brother, who was standing by me, saw my hesitation. And he turned and whispered, Don't forget the disobedient prophet, brother.
01:05:15
Now, I really appreciated that. I I think, brethren, that's what is meant by the statement you heard this morning. Only the truth can keep the truth. That brother was gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That brother had never sat under the sound of ministry, such as we've heard right here.
But he was gathered the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And I believe by the grace of God, though it wouldn't cause us, I trust, ever to relax or to feel it all will always be where we need to be on guard. But I believe that's a precious principle, that to be gathered around the person and under the precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ is a very, very wonderful privilege that the doctrine which is according to godliness made by the grace of God, be maintained.
It's very important that we realize that the truth takes the truth to keep the truth. But in view of what's been said, wouldn't it be wise to have some comment on the expression? Does the truth keep us?
All the knowledge of the truth will never keep us. It tells us in Corinthians knowledge poppeth up, but love edifieth. But if we walk in the truth, why that is the safe path. It tells us in the Psalms. By the word of thy lips have I kept me from the paths of the Destroyer. So walking in the truth we are preserved, But the knowledge of it can lead to pride, and we need to indeed be humble as gathered to the Lord's name.
That we might be preserved independence and then humility about it is so important that we walk in the truth that has been made known to us.
Could you turn to the book of Proverbs just for a moment? I know where it's a little bit, perhaps digression, but I think it's profitable at this point. The Proverbs 2.
My son, if thou wilt receive my words and hide my commandments with thee, so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding, yeah, If thou cryest after knowledge, and lifteth up thy voice for understanding that word, knowledge, I think, could be rendered discernment.
If thou seekest her as silver.
And searcheth for her As for his treasure. Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord giveth wisdom, Out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding he layeth up, sound wisdom for the righteous He is a buckler to them that walk uprightly. He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his Saints.
Then shalt thou understand righteousness and judgment and equity.
Yay, every good path now verse 10 and on, is what I want to call attention to when wisdom entereth into thine heart. And remember we can't get wisdom except on our knees when wisdom entered thine into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul. Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee.
To deliver thee from the way of the evil man. Verse 16. To deliver thee from the strange woman that is violence and corruption.
The soul will be delivered from and all that goes with it.
If he follows the path set forth in this chapter.
It's been said that in the epistles we have that heavenly.
A line of truth for our souls, but in the Proverbs we have principles as to how to walk down here in connection with it.
In answer to our brothers questions, Love for Christ will keep us.
01:10:01
But just having the knowledge of the word as Brother Hale said, you can't trust that I remember a brother that had all the writings of brethren in his library and then went wrong as to the person of Christ and denied the eternal sonship of Christ. It shows that with all the knowledge that he had in all the books he had found and correct.
Yes, when his mind began to work. You want to stray?
So we can't trust to knowledge. It must be devotion and love for the person of Christ.
I think in the verses that follow here we have the reasoning mind He's brought before us the importance of living for the Lord, and that if we are involved in those things that are false, that turn away the eye from him, how we can become like the world. But as soon as these things are pointed out to us, isn't there a danger for the mind to reason? So he says here, but some man will say, how are the dead raised and with what body do they come?
Isn't it so when the truth of God is brought before us, if our minds are not in submission, we begin to reason? How could this be? But it's so important that we bow our minds to as well as our walking ways to, the light and revelation that God has given. It tells us that Paul felt grieved over those in in Corinth, lest their minds would be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
And when we come to God's precious word, it's so important that we bow our minds.
Revelation that God has given. And even when we cannot understand and there are many things beyond our minds to take in that we form the habit of always approaching the word of God with a mind that is bowed to the revelation that he has given. But when we start to reason about the things of God and reason contrary to the Scripture, or leaving out the revelation, or because it's beyond our minds, we're sure to get into trouble.
Do we see that Brother Gordon in Luke chapter 10?
In Luke chapter 10 and verse 21.
It says In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank the old Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto bathes. Even so Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. And then when you go down to the.
25th verse A certain lawyer stood up and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said unto him, What is written in the law?
Style and the answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself. And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right this do, and thou shalt live. But he willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbor? Here is one, that the babe is the one to whom it's revealed, and it's the lawyer.
Says I know what the Word of God says, but I want to find some way around what it says to justify myself. Is that right?
Now that's a natural heart, someone said one time we're speaking to the children and we asked what an excuse is. The answer was it's what you say when you don't want to do something. Well, how true it is When we don't want to do something, then we start to reason. We start to find excuses why we shouldn't. But when there's that simple faith of the child.
Now that willing obedience, how it glorifies Christ. And as our brother Barry remarked, if we really are conscious of his love, enjoying his love, and then the soul desires that submission of love. If we know we have someone who is perfect in wisdom and perfect in love, how could we doubt that he would ask us to do anything that wasn't really for our own good?
That he may prove.
What is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God? That's what Satan tried to question in the mind of Eve from the very beginning.
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Is that the reason we have the expression Thou fool that the this would apply to an old nature that would reason? Is that the thought?
And so that.
He does explain, however, that which.
And the occasion calls for it here that which thou sowest does not quicken.
Except it die, and the eternity of everyone who will be blessed.
Depends upon that corn of wheat that fell into the ground and died.
Because if Christ hadn't died.
If he had remained a man, if he hadn't said, I love my master, my wife and my children, I will not go out free. If he hadn't died, there'd be nothing left of the human race.
Not a thing left and because that one.
Grain of wheat.
Corn of wheat I believe it reads now. One corn of wheat fell into the ground and died.
It did not abide alone and so that we're going to be brought into blessing because of that one.
Corn of wheat that died, so he speaks of this. Now resuming the subject of resurrection that we started with, he speaks here of of that was thou sowest? Thou sowest not that body that shall be but bear grain, or a bear grain.
One grain it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain, but God giveth it a body, as it hath pleased him.
And to every seed his own body, God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him.
Marvelous thought, isn't it? I know there's a number of farmers here, and I was a farmer once myself, that you have found that when you sold wheat that those grains that come up completely disappear in that plant there, that stock of cleat that comes up through the ground. But if that grain is not fertile, it will rot away and you might find a rotten.
Piece of the seed that didn't germinate.
But if the savior is normal, it will disappear in the plant that comes up. So one might say pointing to a bin, a fleet, there's something that's alive. Oh, see, I don't see anything alive about that. But after it's put in the drill and planted in the ground or then here's a field waving with leaks, there's, there's light shows. That's what we said is true.
So that what is planted comes up, but in a more wonderful condition and state than in which it was planted.
Hello. God calls upon us to submit our minds to His revelation, as it says in Second Corinthians, bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. Isn't it gracious that He does explain to us a great many things so that we can understand them? There are things that are beyond our minds, but all of it's possible for Him to make known to us and His purposes and councils.
He goes into great detail and explains to us, for he has treated us as those to whom he has given intelligence.
It tells us in Romans chapter 12 That you presents your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable or intelligent service. And what is so beautiful about Christianity is that God has revealed things to us.
So that we can intelligently lay hold of them and enjoy them by the Spirit. But He brings us to some things to show us that He is beyond our minds the mystery of the person of Christ, many other things that are.
This and says now I have revealed it to you as far as your mind can take it in, you must believe about the rest. But I think it's lovely that he does reveal a great deal to us and in very simple language so that we would understand just what he is doing.
01:20:08
Elephant. The main thought here is that proceed produces a more wonderful body than the seed that went into the ground so far. He isn't carrying too far the illustration, yet he's giving the thought that in the resurrection condition will be in a far more wonderful condition than we are down here in these bodies of humiliation.
Those will be bodies of glory like unto his glorious body. I remember one time walking along Bloor St. in Toronto.
And I saw a live daffodil pinned to the bulletin board outside a church, and beside it was the verse. Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise the dead? I really enjoyed that. A living daffodil pin to the bulletin board and that wonderful verse beside it. We have become so accustomed to this kind of thing that we fail to see the wonder of God's miraculous handiwork in it.
That withered up daffodil bug put down there in the ground and the ground freezes hard as a rock. The next spring up comes the green leaf and then the beautiful daffodil. And I thought it was a happy reminder of what we have as farther off news to say. And you can think of it when you go downstairs to eat your lunch. Everything that you eat that nourishes your body was once a living thing and had to die to sustain your life.
There's only one thing that will be on the table downstairs that was not at one time a living thing, and it doesn't nourish your body and that salt. But everything you and I eat that nourishes our body was at one time a living thing, and it had to die to nourish our body that we might see demonstrated before us continually that life is through death. Certainly it's beyond our reasoning power, but it's demonstrated around us continually.
153153
Oh my Lord.
All lonely.
1 Corinthians 15:39-58
Reading
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General meeting, Toledo, November 1976. Third reading meeting.
We're at the 39th 1St.
1St Corinthians 15 verse 39.
All flesh, not the same flesh.
But there is one kind of flesh of men.
Another flesh of beasts.
Another fishes and another birds.
00:05:00
There are also celestial bodies and bodies terrestrial.
With the glory of the celestial as one.
And the glory of the terrestrial is another.
There is one glory of the sun and another glory of the moon, another glory of the stars. For one star different from another star in glory.
So also as a resurrection of the dead.
It is sown in corruption. It is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor. It is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness. It is raised in power.
It is an unnatural body. It has raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body and there is a spiritual body.
And so it is written. The first man, Adam, was made a living soul. The last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
How be it that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural and afterwards that which is spiritual?
The first manners of the earth, earthy the 2nd man is the Lord from heaven.
That is the earthy such are they also that are earthy, and as is the heavenly.
Such as they also that are heavenly.
And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. Neither does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump. For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
So when that corruptible shall I put on interruption, and this mortality shall I put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass in saying that his written death is swallowed up in victory.
Death, where is I sting, O grave, where is thy victory?
The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God, which giveth us a victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. For as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
I.
The expression in corruption.
I believe the thought is.
A state that can never be corrupted again.
Here in resurrection life, it isn't simply that the state itself is one of interruption, but it means that its character is such that it can never be corrupted.
That's the way the new translation reads, and it seems so remarkable. It is sown in corruption. It is raised in incorruptibility. It's really so beautiful to see the distinction. One would expect it to say in corruption. But incorruptibility is that which never could be corrupted again. The Apostle Paul contrasts his ministry. I say his ministry, I mean.
The ministry that he was specially given by revelation.
Which this is a part of Indiana, the 2nd Corinthians with the ministry of the law.
Now he shows how that the ministry under the law was introduced with glory.
There was a gathering of all of the elders of Israel with Moses, and there was a pavilion of sapphire stones where they met with the God of Israel, and they ate and drank.
And the angels were there, myriads of angels. It was all attended with glory. But Paul says I have a ministry that exceeds all this.
And it's a ministry of the Spirit, and it's a ministry of righteousness. Now those two things connected with glory, just think of them for a moment. Righteousness and the spirit, we we see that in Corinthians, the deep things of God that's mentioned.
00:10:18
In the second chapter, I believe of First Corinthians, the deep things of God the Beloved, are they not those things which have to do with his nature and with his Holy Spirit? And think of being brought into that sphere where there's no possibility ever again of of any corruption, never a possibility again.
Of grieving the spirit.
As we do down here, but also just the contrast. Everything will be attended with glory, a glory that so far exceeds the glory that introduced the law that it can't even be mentioned, the old glory, so that we we're thinking of things this afternoon.
That's connected with the glories of Christ, which brings us in relationship with them that nothing can exceed.
It's so great. It's so wonderful. It's so high. And so in our our verses here he's he's beginning to speak of of the flesh and then he goes on until he speaks of the spiritual and brings us right into the very image that we will take on in that day.
Striking, isn't it? The subject where we started reading all plesh is not the same place.
Was mentioned this morning that while we are considering very deep truths, yet God can use simple illustrations to give us an understanding of the meaning of what the Spirit of God has before us. And so in this 39th verse, all flesh is not the same flesh, but there's one kind of flesh of men.
Another flesh of these to another of fishes and another of birds. Now God in his wisdom has created various creatures and animals to live in a certain sphere, That is, there are animals there to walk on the earth. There are fishes that live in the water, couldn't live out of the water, and they are birds that live in the air, fly on the air.
Well, now God in his wisdom has.
Prepared bodies suited to the scene into which they're to dwell in glory with Christ, if we were to translate it to heaven In our bodies as they are now, we carry all our miseries and all our afflictions with us. But God has foreseen something far better than for us to be in heaven with bodies where we groan as down here.
And so he has fitted us. He will fit us for a scene, and the very bodies that He's going to give us in the resurrection scene will be perfectly adapted to that wonderful region where we shall dwell with God's beloved Son. So he uses this illustration. The fish doesn't go on land. He'd die.
And the bird doesn't go underwater. That's not his.
That's not his realm. So now we're to be not only resurrected.
And changed in the twinkling of an eye as we get in the 51St verse. But we are to be admitted into a scene where we're perfectly adapted to that scene where these glorified bodies shall dwell in all their wonderful.
Marvelous change that takes place when the Lord comes for his own.
Remarkable that it says too, isn't that they're also celestial bodies and bodies terrestrial.
And the glory of the celestial is 1 And the glory of the terrestrial is another, showing us that there will be those who will be glorified with Christ above. That's the Celestial. But those who dwell upon the earth in the eternal state will have bodies suited to the earth too, glorified terrestrial bodies, so that they will be no corruption in the earthly scene either.
00:15:16
But there will be a different body given to those who share in the heavenly scene, to those who will share in the blessing of the earthly scene.
Jenny thought about one star differing from another in glory.
I don't think there's any graduation there, do you?
According to the teaching of our old writers, you know, it's just an illustration to illustrate what's coming, isn't it?
There is no such thing as anyone said above another. That's not the thought, is it?
OK, fine brother. First chapter of Genesis, that on the third day we find that God there speaks twice as that which he has seen as being very good or being good. And one has enjoyed noticing that the first time is in connection with the waters being gathered together onto one place, and the dry land appears, and it's at that point that the Lord says that it was good.
Well, it seems to me that we have there in tight God, giving us to see that the work of Christ the Calvary is such that has glorified God, established the basis for blessing for man. The dry land appears, and yet if not one soul had been saved at all, it would still have had immense value in the eyes of God. It was good. But then we find it goes on to say that there is fruit.
And the fruit that is produced is after his kind. And so we find that God in his wondrous grace again says that it is good, because the work of Christ and Calvary has not only glorified God, immense as that is, but there has been fruit, And the fruit that has been produced is after his kind, after the kind of the seed that, as we had this morning, fell into the ground and died.
And so we find here in our chapter that it specifically says that God gives it a body as it hath pleased him. And so we look to the word to find out what kind of a body has God been pleased to tell us We'll be our portion in glory. And we find, beloved brethren, that the body that God has prepared for us to have in the glory is a body fashioned like unto his body of glory.
We find in first John chapter three, that it tells us that it does not yet appear what we shall be. And so it is that we find now we don't manifest now that body that we will have. But God has told us, and to our own soul it's so precious that God has revealed to us what His purpose is, what the body he has been pleased to have for his own. And that body is tells us in Romans chapter 8.
That we have been predestinated to be conformed to the image of God's Son, that we should have bodies fashioned like unto his body of glory. It seems to my own soul here in this chapter that we are shown how that in the type the Lord Jesus had to die and he has brought forth fruit. But it's also true of us that is that our old standing, our old position in Adam comes to an end.
It dies. God can do nothing with the old man except condemn it. And so the word of God says, ye are dead. But in resurrection we're given to know the wondrous joy, the wondrous truth that we are going to be just like Christ. And why? Because God has been pleased to have its own. He pleases it to be so. And as it tells us in that 38th verse, God giveth it a body as it has pleased him.
Interesting and.
In uncomforting, isn't it that in connection with the burial of a child of God, it doesn't speak of burial, it speaks of sowing, so it says.
00:20:06
So also is the resurrection of the day. It is so in corruption. It is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor. It is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness.
It is raised in power, so on so that in laying aside the body of a child of God, it isn't a hopeless thought like the world.
I can all man I knew when his wife died. He is an unbeliever and often pulls the Bible and talking to me when his wife died. So it's all over tall over, just perfect.
Distress and no hope whatever.
That his partnership with his wife, that he loved dearly, was all over. This light pleasures had ended well. How different from for the believer it is soon we don't put the there are seeds of flowers in the ground just to bury them and never expect to see any fruit from it. We put those in the ground. We saw it because we perfectly have confidence in the seed that it will come up.
And produce something beautiful and lovely. More lovely and more beautiful than the seed that goes into the ground. Well, what marvelous contrasts are brought before us in these verses you get here. It is sown in corruption. It is raised in incorruption. That's just what you were speaking about, wasn't it, Brother Lundeen? A body that can never go into corruption again.
We never end the dishonor again.
Like the next verse says.
It is sown in dishonor. It is raised in glory.
My brother spoke about the the bulb. It looks pretty rough when you put it in the ground and it goes through the winter, but the flowers not like that, is it?
These illustrations, these natural illustrations help us, don't they do, to see what's coming?
Those seeds have to have life that we plant or they don't come up. That's that's true with the sewing of the of the body too. We're not going to get a new life, that resurrection. We already have it so that the pretender, the mere professor, although he looks like.
Any of the rest of the real Christians, he hasn't got life, and so that is vital. Resurrection is not quickening, It's not the giving, giving of life. Those seats have to have life. We sow some seeds and they don't have life and they don't come up.
The resurrection is a very different thing. It involves the reunion of the body and soul with the body, soul and spirit. So.
Here we're looking at resurrection and when.
A dear St. of God is put away. It's just the sowing of the seed, and God is the one who is going to fall. For the one who said, I am he that liveth and was that, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And have the keys of heaven, of death, so that the Lord Jesus in his time will fall forth those sleeping Saints.
There will be, of course, the resurrection of those who have died in their sins, and it's remarkable that the Scripture is silent as to what body they will have in resurrection, that they will be raised. The Scripture makes very clear. But the IT couldn't be said that it's incorruptible. It couldn't be spoken now as being raised in in power. It's the manifestation of God's power. But.
As our brother remarked, when God spoke of the body that he is given by, it's very good. But when we think of those who have died in their sins being raised, Scripture doesn't tell us. Perhaps they'll come forth in the very bodies in which they abuse their their lives here with sin, and have to suffer the result of that for all eternity. It's a very solemn thought that the Scripture never makes any mention of what kind of bodies they.
00:25:03
Wicked dead will have in resurrection, but that they will be raised is no question. The scripture makes that very clear. The resurrection of the just and the unjust, The resurrection of damnation.
At the expression there it is so the dishonor. It is raised in glory that once and for all settles the question as to our being eternally saved When we leave this scene, if we dive trusting in Christ, everything is settled for all eternity, and the wretched doctrine that pervades some parts of Christendom.
That after you get to the judgment seat, it'll be determined there whether you are works were sufficient that you could be in heaven, or whether your works were such that you'll be condemned to hell. Now this would forever refute such an argument as that because the body, when it comes from the grave, it comes in glory. It comes out of the grave as a glorified body.
Well, to suggest for a moment that that body of glory.
Would be tried before it could have its joys in heaven. And and some might be confined and sent to a lost eternity to suggest such a thing. As to answer it, it couldn't be. Could God send a glorified body into hell? Boy, it's impossible. It shows how absolutely secure.
He is a believer that trusts in Christ, and when he dies, why everything is settled for his soul, for all eternities. So when he comes out of the grave, he comes in a glorified state where he will spend eternity with Christ and there's no possibility of his ever being lost.
The spiritual bodies too. I'll wouldn't it be glorified and spiritual both and the rest of that verse?
Who speaks of?
Shown in.
Shown in weakness.
Yes, the end of the 33rd verse, sown in weakness, is raised in power now in Ephesians 1.
I like to think of that in connection with it in the 18 verse or.
Yes, the 18th verse.
This is the the prayer, the first prayer of the Apostle in Ephesians. The eyes of your understanding or hearts being enlightened, that she may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe according to the working of.
His mighty power, or the might of his power, which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead.
And set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places.
Far above all principality, and power, and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come, and has put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth All in all.
Now this was the apostles prayer that the believer might be in the good of what the Spirit brings, that is the anointing, the intelligence, the understanding, the entering into these things that belong to us.
And although it's weakness now, we're going to be raised in power, just like Christ was raised.
Out from among the dead. In connection with that, I was looking at First Corinthians, the first chapter, and I was wondering about that 25th verse.
00:30:02
We have the the word weakness there. The apostle is using this, no doubt.
To remind the Saints at Corinth that everything that belonged to the first man was worthless in the in the light of what God was bringing in in the new order. And so we have this expression here in the 25th 1St weakness of God.
Is that not associated with the place that Christ took on the cross as God?
Setting before us that which of course was not weakness in the sense that.
There's nothing weak about God, but he took that place. He took that place to show how far he would come to meet us in our need.
Remember Brother Brown saying this one time that there's nothing honorable about dying?
It's a beautiful thing to see a strong man, a very intelligent woman, one who has been lovely and had.
A place in this life. See them struggling, trying to get their breath and finally passing out. Nothing honorable about that, but what a contrast sown in weakness, raised in glory. What a marvelous thing takes place.
When the Lord comes and gives that shout in the air, should the Lord tire, there may be some of us here that will.
Will experience that weakness and leaving this poor world, these poor bodies wear out the jaw, our last breath, and we're no longer here. But we have that glorious and wonderful promise that though that body is lower, Lord into the grave, it's going to come out with a mighty power.
As you said, Brother Lundeen, giving the illustration of the power that brought the Lord out of death when he had leaned there in that tomb, I love to think about how they roll that stone to the door of the Sepulchre and seal it. Where the seal of the Roman Emperor. Well, who would dare to interfere with the seal of the greatest emperor that ever lived on the earth?
There his orders were, Don't disturb that sepulchre. But when the Angel came down from heaven, his raiment was quite as the light. And had he any fear of that seal of that Roman emperor, roll that stone back, and broke that seal? Not to let the Lord's body come out of that tomb, but to show to his own that he was not there?
He could say to the women.
Come see the place where the Lord lay, or what a triumph the resurrection really is, beloved, how little we enter into it. But the amazing and marvelous thing, as you brought before us, is to see that resurrection in the very one who is head of the whole resurrection company, already raised and already seated in highest glory.
Says of the Lord Jesus in Corinth, Second Corinthians. He was crucified in weakness, but he liveth by the power of God.
But we must distinguish between the death of a believer and the death of the Lord Jesus in this and that. His body never saw corruption, never could see corruption. And so as soon as a natural man dies, the body immediately begins to corrupt. But not so with the Lord Jesus. There was nothing that could ever touch that blessed holy body that he took, whether in life or death, that in any way was characterized by corruption.
His triumph was a mighty triumph over death. But with believers, when they die, oh how many marks we have already. And after death more of corruption, that is, we see age come on, Gray hairs, all those constant reminders that the body breaks down. This was never so with the Lord Jesus. But that triumph that was displayed when he rose is going to bring out those who are sown in dishonor.
The Lord Jesus wasn't sown in dishonor, but with us it's sold. But all what a marvelous thing. The ones who come forth won't have any marks of sin. There will be no Gray hairs. We think about recognizing those who have gone before, but it will be because of divine perception, not because of the necessary similarity, because the bodies in glory will have the view of youth as we read in the Psalms.
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That all the freshness of the body that the Lord Jesus took in resurrection.
Well, I just mentioned that because the Lord's body never saw corruption, never could. The body of a believer may if the Lord doesn't come, but the triumph will be as complete when He raises us to be fashion like himself.
Now this may be a thought a little far into what we've been talking about, but you know Joseph of Armenia, Arimathea had a new sepulchre human, Oliver Rock. He was a wealthy man, and doubtless he wanted his body in a perfectly clean.
Tomb where no corruption had ever taken place that saw no corruption and connection with his burial place.
And he gave it over to the Lord all that night. He was that day when the Lord was taken down here, Aramoth, his soul was so touched. Give his tomb. Give my tomb to him. Bury him there. Did the Lord in any way cause any anything that would not be pleasant in that sepulchre? He saw no corruption. He didn't miss anything by turning his.
Lovely sepulcher that he and HyunA had hewn out of the rock for his burial by giving it to the Lord.
And is there not a lesson for us in that, that anything we give to the Lord will have no regret? There's nothing that will ever cause.
Sorrow or disappointment about it, we can hand anything over to him, just like the little boy that handed over the five loaves and the two fishes, He is never sorry for taking his little lunch and handing it over to the Lord.
For he had the delight of seeing 5000 men, besides women and children, fed with the little that he had provided for himself.
I wonder if it could have been.
That one of the disciples had whispered the jaws of Arimathea. What the Lord said, If I go away, I'll come again. And if that were so, Joseph would never have needed that too, would he?
The thought and the spiritual body is the thought of the life principle of the body, isn't it? It's not that in resurrection we'll be spirits and the Lord Jesus said a spirit hath not flesh and bones as you see me have. But the principle of this body is that it has to be sustained through breathing and through oxygen. But the blood is sustained in this way the Lord Jesus shed his blood. And so the life principle in resurrection is spirit.
And we'll have bodies of glory, fashion like unto his own glorious body. And so there will be no blood as we have in the 50th verse. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. Neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. But when you and I take our place in that glorious scene above, it will not be flesh and blood. It'll be a body like Christ, flesh and bones. And the life principle will be spirit.
When men went up to the moon, they had to take oxygen because they must breathe. They couldn't live outside of the atmosphere of this world. But when you and I hear that shout, will be changed, and the Lord will take us up into His presence, The bodies will be suited to that passage, into His presence, and glorified like the one who went there as a forerunner, as it says in Hebrews, whether the forerunner is for us entered.
Even Jesus.
It's the same body, though, is it not, Brother? Yes. But change. Change, yeah. I think I mentioned that because I think there's a very practical word for all of us, and I would think especially for the young in this same epistle in chapter six, since it is the same body.
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It shows how important our bodies are to the Lord, and perhaps we are.
Negligent in thinking of the fact that our bodies are the Lords as well as our souls. That is, not only our souls are redeemed, but as we had before us yesterday, our bodies are not yet redeemed, but they're purchased. And I just like to read in verse in the 6th chapter of First Corinthians.
One might read this with profit on their own, but I was thinking in the.
In verse 15 the beginning know you not that your bodies are the members of Christ, and then again in verse 20.
Verse 19 rather what? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which you have of God, and you're not your own? For your thought with a price, doesn't that refer to the body? Therefore glorify God in your body.
I believe the words and your spirit are omitted in the better manuscript. The object is that the body here is seen as that which has been purchased. So when we speak about the resurrection, it's the body that is sown as we've been speaking, in weakness and dishonor and corruption. But it's raised in power and glory and incorruptibility and a natural body. But it shows that.
The body that we now have has been bought, purchased by the Lord Jesus, and so he says, therefore glory by God in your body.
Wondering if someone could tell us a little about the thought in Philippians 3 connected with the thoughts our brother Johnson is just.
Philippians chapter 3.
And verse 20 for our conversation.
It is in heaven from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our not vile body, but body of humiliation, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. Does that fit in here, too? Yes, indeed, that's what we are Speaking of.
I have wondered if there is perhaps a little distinction between the thought here in Philippians 3 as compared with first John 3.
That is here in Philippians 3. It is very specifically the changing of our body.
That it may be fashioned like under his body of glory. In first John Three it says, It does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifies himself, even as he is pure.
I have wondered if in first John Three there is not only the prospect of physical conformity to the Lord Jesus Christ, but also moral conformity because of the verse that follows. Every man that hath this hope in him purified himself, even as he is pure. If I rejoice in the fact that I am going to have a body of glory fashioned like his own, if I think about it every day of my life.
It still will have no effect on the aging process of this body that I possess. I'll continue to grow older and show it. But if there is some occupation with the prospect of being morally conformed to him in that day, this hope in him, surely it will have some present effect upon us. It would be a vain thing, I I doubt, not to speak of the fact that all were going to be morally like Christ in that day.
And then no evidence of any present moral conformity to him along the way. Is there that thought in first John 3, every man that had this folk in him? I used to think that was it myself. But I've got to get clear of that. It isn't in myself that I have the whole it's in Christ himself. And having that hope in Christ, the effect is, as you say, that I want to be more like the one that.
00:45:10
Now I'm going to be like in glory.
I.
And speaking about.
That verse in Philippians 3.
There are some stark reasoning, you know. How can those bodies all be brought back? Sometimes their bodies have been consumed by sharks, and some bodies have been burned in their ashes, scattered to the four winds.
How is it possible for those bodies all that has been disintegrated and has gone so completely? How can they be brought together again? Remember brother Clifford Brown giving this answer? He says there are three words that answer the whole thing. He is able. That's settlement. We don't have to try to puzzle our poor brains and try to understand how it can be, but there it is. He is able.
And when you stop to think that God is infinite.
Thank God, the creation, an infinite creation. Everything connected with God is infinite, isn't it? And if God could take the dust of the ground and form a human body such as we're living in, and then breathed into the nostrils, the breath of life.
And for man in that way, what is there that God can't be? And if God is praised, and he will be pleased to bring all the bodies of his Saints back together?
Why? It's nothing to God at all. He is able, and when the time comes and the Lord gives that shout.
The dead in Christ are going to rise. Whether they are buried in the sea or where they have been buried, they are going to come out.
Is that what the trump of God means, that?
It's the it's the power that that raises the dead. Is that the thought of the trump of God? And I thought Brother Lundine, that trump of God is more the gathering together, isn't it? I don't know. I'm asking. Well, usually a Trump is a thought of gathering the armies together, the soldiers together, the great trumpet being sounded that bring Israel together in the coming days.
The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, and I believe a better translation is with Archangel voice.
And trump of gods and the dead in Christ there is the Trump brings them together there is that the thought? Well, the 10th chapter of numbers, when it speaks about the trumpet there, says in the first verse, And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Make the two trumpets of silver of a whole piece shalt thou make them, that thou mayest use them for the calling of the assembly, and for the journeying of the camps?
And when they shall blow with them, all the assembly shall assemble themselves to thee at the door of the Tabernacle of the congregation. And so is your remarked when we come to the Gospels. And the Lord spoke of the coming day, And the gathering back of Israel says he would gather his elect.
With a great sound of a trumpet from the four corners of the Earth saw, I'd like to think of it as you speak.
Alas, many of God's children are scattered now, but when the show is heard, they'll all be gathered unto him.
Those trumpets were used to gather them together at the door of the Tabernacle of the congregation to Moses. Well, when the Lord comes with that trump, why there'll be no scattered Saints, they'll all be gathered and all be gathered to him. I like to think of it in that way myself.
He has spoken of in that way too, isn't it in Second Thessalonians chapter 2 where they had lost the present hope of the Lord's return?
And he says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him.
I believe I heard one time that there were three trumpets.
And the Roman army. And the first trumpet sound was to strike the camp and I got their tents and their possessions and get ready to March. And the 2nd trumpet was to fall in line and get ready to go forward. And the last trump, the third trump was to begin to March. And so the reference here is to the last Trump. So we're on that verge of just being called to move on. We need to be ready, don't we?
00:50:21
It said a little later in the chapter. I was the reason I was wondering about the thought it says in the 52nd verse.
For the trumpet shall sound, and the debt shall be raised in corruptible. I was wondering if in that last Trump, that it's the voice that calls forth even the dead as as they're gathered together.
It's the it's the voice of God himself.
That calls forth the dead, and will all be caught up together.
I've rather enjoyed in the 1St Thessalonians 4 where it mentions 3 things there.
The 16th verse. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God. Then the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. That we have the three things there I have rather enjoyed thinking of the shout of the Lord's joy. Then the moment comes when he is going to gather his people the fruit of his work.
To himself it's a shout of triumph and of joy that that moment has come. And then there's the voice of the Archangel speaks of the Archangel in the book of Daniel is standing for the Prince of their standing as the Prince for God's people. And we're told also in Hebrews, that angels are ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them, who shall be heirs of salvation. We know there is an angelic ministry now on behalf of the people of God.
Caring for us in so many ways as we travel through this scene. Well that is come to its end when the church is escorted to glory and then the trump of God, the gathering together to him. What a moment that will be. A moment of joy to the Lord. The wilderness journey being over, we won't need that angelic care. And then the gathering together, no longer scattered, but all gathered together to him.
All this in a moment when the Lord calls us home to be with himself.
And together is a marvelous truth, isn't it? I was thinking of the of the stones of the temple that were cut out there in those caverns. And those stones were raised out of those caverns and placed in that marvelous temple one by one, I suppose. And some of them were very huge, 200 tons, 250 tons each. But I was thinking of the.
They were raised and put into this building.
One at a time. But when the Lord Jesus comes, every stone, every single God is going to be raised up together. Think of the not only his love, but the power of God to do this raised up together. One is suggested that if we could conceive the idea that all those stones were cut out in those caverns, and then all raised together, we might see some contrast as to or comparison as to the mighty power of God.
That will raise all the Saints together when he comes, when the Lord Jesus comes.
Even the expression in First Thessalonians is with an assembling shelter, as though the Lord has just been waiting for this. Oh, at a moment that will be when all are assembled. It will mean a great deal to us, and I hope we're really looking forward to being assembled at last and all, how much it will mean.
To the Lord Jesus. I enjoyed the thought too. It was mentioned at the first meeting that the resurrection of the Lord Jesus was really a work of the Godhead. Each specifically mentioned God raised him from the dead. I have power to lay my life down, and I have power to take it again, quickened by the Spirit. And it's wonderful too to think that this moment that we have been Speaking of is also a work of a whole Godhead.
I just kind of instinctively knew that it would be, but it took me a while to find it. And I must admit I was frustrated in my search because I read 1St Thessalonians 3 and I just knew I would find the whole Godhead there. But I couldn't. The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout.
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But the voice of the Archangel and with the trump of God, and I read it through no mention of the Spirit. And I searched here and there and could find no mention of the Spirit. That I I just couldn't believe it. I just knew that the whole Godhead had to be active in this marvelous moment till I realized that it was Revelation 22 The spirit and the bride say, come, the Spirit of God has already come down.
Is here indwells the believer and would long to have each one of our hearts saying by his power. Even so come Lord Jesus. And it really touched my heart and searched my heart too, to see the place that the Spirit of God really does have in the moment of the rapture. The place the Spirit of God has if you wish, is within our hearts seeking, inviting if you wish.
Inviting him to come. There is also the passenger Albert in Romans 8 and particularly speaks of his part in the Rapture, Romans 8 and verse 11.
But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit that dwelleth in you, I believe that's the rapture.
The earthly man here contrasted with the.
The heavenly.
Now this isn't necessarily, as I take it, bringing in the thought of man and his his condition as he is now, but is simply a contrast, is it not between the 1St and the last, That is the first atom he was made for this earth.
But the believer belongs to entirely new order is not earthy.
It's heavenly and so that it isn't simply future, but it says.
As is the earthy or the earthy ones, such are they also that are earthy. And as is the heavenly or heavenly one, such are they also that are heavenly. Now this is true. Now is it not that Our Calling is a heavenly 1?
Heavenly people and if we take the whole truth as it's given us in Ephesians.
We're already seated there in the counsels of God, so that we are a heavenly people. Now think of what it will be when the bodies, the spiritual bodies, the glorified bodies, will be joined.
To the believer who already in spirit is heavenly.
This 47th verse gives the subject matter of the whole Bible, doesn't it?
The story of two men. That's what the Bible is all about. The story of two men.
One was thinking of the Lord Jesus coming down and becoming a man. The word was made pleasure.
The Word was with God, and the Word was God. And then in John 14114, I'm going to have to read it.
John's Gospel.
One and verse 14 the word was made plague and dwelt among us. It really says in the best translation became places what he became God came down and became a man, and I believe that in Jesus.
We see that God is just as perfect in humanity as He is in in Vietnam. That is, Jesus is just as perfect in humanity.
As he is in Deity, and nothing one has enjoyed with that.
This wonderful change that that we're going to experience as believers, that we shall be just as like the second man as we have been like the first. That's the perfect work of God. We're going to be just as like the second man as we have been.
01:00:10
Like the first, I'd like to suggest one other scripture about this great change in Luke chapter 20, this great change whereby his table.
The magnitude of it. There's one little phrase here that we haven't touched on that we ought to enjoy. In the 36th verse, I'll just mention the first phrase. Neither can they die anymore? Isn't that a wonderful thing to enjoy? We won't be able to die anymore when we're there.
There's lots more to it, but this is nice, isn't it?
You notice that it speaks of the first man and the 2nd man, but it doesn't speak of the first atom and the second atom, but it's the first atom on the last atom that is, there'll never be another.
Hit of a race. Adam was a head of a race. Christ is a head of a race, and there'll never be another because the first man, everything depended on him.
Whether Adam was obedient and subject till the command of God.
We know he failed and he became the head of a fallen race.
How everything in connection with our blessing and our position depends on the last atom and the whole thing hinges upon whether he is sustained, whether he has failed. Well, we know he hasn't failed, He know he can't fail, so we can't say like it could be said at the beginning.
That if heaven fell while all the creation would fall with it, now after all we have been brought into and all the prospects we have before us.
Can it fail just as it failed in the Garden of Eden that?
The head of the whole race falls and the the the paradise is lost. That can never be the first atom, the second atom has been or the last atom has been fully tested.
He came into this world, and he was tested of man. He was tested of Satan, who tried him for 40 days and had to leave him defeated. And then he came back and get 70 and tried again, And the Lord again by subjection and saying, not my will but thine be done, triumphed over him after man had tried him for 33 years and nailed him to the cross.
We find his perfect and final victory there. And now we see the second or the last atom in in resurrection, the heads of a new race, and it can never fall, It can never fail, because the one who is the head of the whole system has been perfectly obedient and has in no way failed, has been fully tested out, and has triumphed over every every.
Man and Satan that is ever raised against him.
And it's in John's Gospel were you seen as the Son of God that he says, Because I live, ye shall live also.
Everything depends on a man.
As the head of the race, as you said, because I live, ye shall live also.
Also, I think they hear the contrast between the two men isn't so much to emphasize the fact that the first man failed, but his origin. The first man is of the earth, earthy. Even if Adam had not sinned, he would have never been of a heavenly harder. He would have only been of an earthly arter, but now through grace and in connection with the the 2nd man, the last Adam.
Heavenly order of things. So the in Romans 5 we have these two heads brought before us, and there the actions of the two are considered and the consequences of their actions. But here I believe it's more emphasized the fault of the origin. The first man is of the earth, earthy, and had he never failed, he would have always been of that order. But the second man is out of heaven. It's a heavenly order of things now.
01:05:18
In connection with our head, the Lord Jesus, so that.
It seems that the apostle is seeking to elevate the thoughts of the Saints in Corinth from being earthly, being earthly minded and occupied with the things here, seeking to reign before the time as we have earlier in this epistle, and seeking to walk as men all the way through. He's he's connecting them with the the true character of Christianity.
Here we have the truth order, you might say, with which we are connected, which is heavenly and not earthly.
Secret. Hand it hold. I show you a mystery. A mystery is a secret, and when a secret is told, it's no longer a secret.
You wouldn't find anything like this in the writings of Isaiah or Jeremiah.
That you get in this verse, that we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. That was a mystery, one of the mysteries that were committed to the Apostle Paul.
Like the mystery of the church.
In connection with that, Deuteronomy 29 and verse 29 is very nice for us.
Deuteronomy 2929 says, The secret things belong unto the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.
Well, how much God has revealed now to hasta had been secret, and it belongs to us, but we can only possess it as we.
Do or walk according to the Scriptures, and we ought to prize it for ourselves and for our children.
I'm just going to ask that word image. Is that the thought of likeness?
In the next verse.
49th 1St.
Well, I believe it's physical layer, although image is usually used in scripture as the thought of representative. I had taken an adverse to be the physical and that is we were part of a race here, an earthly earthly race, but we actually belong now to a heavenly one and we're going to bear the image of it. It would be connected I believe is what we have in first John three that was mentioned. It does not get appear what we shall be.
We're already children. After that heavenly order, it hasn't been manifested. We should display it morally. We know we'll be like Christ morally and physically then, but we ought to display it morally. But we cannot display it physically until the Lord comes. I believe that expression in John could also be translated manifested, that is, in the third chapter, that is.
When he is manifested.
Will be manifested with him, that is, there will be that likeness scene.
Exactly like Christ. Now it says also in in Colossians, I believe, that our life is hid with Christ in God.
Well, when he when he appears or is manifested.
We'll be like him. We learned in the Hebrews one that.
When He brings the first begotten into the world again, all the angels shall fall down and worship Him. And so Christ is hid now, and so is our life hid up there with Him. But when He's, when He is manifested, we will be manifested with Him, and we will be just like Him. We have borne the image of the earthy, that is, the one who belonged to the earth, but we will bear the image.
01:10:12
Of the Heavenly 1.
I was thinking, in connection with what our brother was saying, that in Deuteronomy 29 and 29 the thought that we may do all the words of this law. When Moses was commanded to make the Tabernacle after the pattern that was showed to him in the mount, we are told in Hebrews that it was a pattern of things in the heavens. If he were to deviate from that in any way, he would have spoiled that which was a pattern of the heavenly things.
But he didn't understand that. But now, since the Spirit of God has come, we can look back and enjoy all those wonderful things that were given as being a pattern of that which God had in mind something far above the order of things in Judaism. And so also in First Corinthians chapter 2, it says in the ninth verse, I have not seen Nair heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them, that love him.
We hear that verse quoted sometimes.
To be our present state that we were not to be able to enjoy all these things. But that is the Old Testament state, isn't it? Now these things have been revealed. And as our brother just remarked, behold, I show you a mystery or a secret. It's no longer something that is hidden.
That we don't know. Every believer taught of God now can say I know what's ahead.
I know the place that awaits me. I'm going to be with and like Christ, the heavenly scene is brought before us. Our place of relationship is part of the Bride of Christ. What a view of those glories. As much as it is possible for the Spirit of God to unfold to those who are now indwelled by the Spirit has been made known. So what a place we are in now in contrast to those previous to the cross and to the coming of the Holy Spirit.
It's the most blessed place, and it's ours to enjoy. Now God's secrets, shall I say, have been revealed, and the Spirit of God is here to make them good in our souls.
Well, isn't it a secret that revealed to, as it were, to those who were initiated into this calling? You know, in Masonry there are certain secrets. There's only those who are.
In the Mason system can be told about it. Well, I suppose in a practical sense that one might hear this that's an unbeliever and listen to it. But really to enter into the true meaning and thought the spirit of God has, one must be in that initiated into that so that this is a real secret to his soul.
That he enters into the blessedness and preciousness for himself. Is that right? Yes, every believer has the capacity by the Spirit, but unless we allow the Spirit of God his way with us, why we don't enjoy the things even though we have the capacity to enjoy them. And that's why it says he that is spiritual discerneth all things and the natural man cannot receive them because he doesn't have the spirit of God.
The one who has the Spirit must be yielded to the leading of the Spirit to enjoy these precious things. Not that anyone of us here I trust would say, well, I'm a spiritual person. But we can't exercise our own hearts as to how much we are yielded to the leading of the Spirit who wants to lead us into the enjoyment of all those revealed things that have been given to us now in Christianity.
51St verse that allows for the Rapture, doesn't it? We shall not all sleep.
So that the present hope is before us here, as well as the time of the, the raising of all the.
Of the dead.
The hope of the believer being caught away, I mean, without going through death, it says in this 51St verse, Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but it's true. We should all be changed.
01:15:00
How long does it take for that change to take place?
I don't know how it can be calculated.
Everything down here and opens to everything that's up there.
John.
In that passage mentioned in Revelation 4.
For some time during the meetings, immediately I was in the spirit.
It's a precious thing to think that there'll be an immediate change. Immediately I was in the Spirit. But is there any thought? Brethren to self, we shall be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air that feels before we meet the Lord, we're together. I have often wondered if there would be a moment's recognition of our loved ones.
That when that child is heard.
You only thought about that?
Well, I believe the recognition and glory is always associated with spiritual relationships. I have always felt that the only scriptures that speak of us knowing one another are always associated with spiritual things because.
Natural relationships will not exist in heaven. So the disciples on the mountain knew Moses and Elias not because there was a relationship in nature, but because of a divine relationship.
Paul said that he would know the Thessalonians Saints. He said what is our hope for joy, our Crown of rejoicing?
Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ that is coming? And it seems to me, it does encourage us to live with those spiritual relationships in mind. It even says also in the Psalms, he that goes forth and weepeth bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him now there again it's associated with our service to the Lord.
So I believe the thought of recognition is associated with a spiritual.
Enjoyment, and that's why, I remarked in the young people's meeting, it's happy when we exist in the natural relationship and have the enjoyment of the spiritual, which is what remains. The only thing that abides in that day is what is of new creation, I believe.
You emphasized a while ago the worst he is able. When we think in terms of a twinkling of an eye. It's a very, very brief span of time. But it seems to me from First Thessalonians 4 that even that brief span of time is sort of divided. The dead in Christ shall rise first, then. God alone is able to divide the twinkling of an eye into a first and a then. And if we find it a bit impossible to consider the the realization of going home.
Together. All I can say is God is able and whatever is the best plan, that's the way it will be. We'll go home together. And I have rather enjoyed the fact all this work together. I know we specially think perhaps of those who've meant a little extra to us along the way. But when the word together is used in connection with the Lord's people, let's think of it as he thinks of it together. The assembling principle that I believe He.
So longed for.
And that we ought to long for too together with them.
Our time is slipping away. What about the death being swallowed up in victory, Brother Barry?
You tell us. Well, I was just just wondering, I was interested in your thought on it. Where is that coded from?
Well, it's it's from one of the minor Prophets, isn't it? Yes.
A little differently though.
This is what chapter is.
13.
The 14th verses of the 13th chapter.
It says there I will ransom them from the power of the grave. I will redeem, I will redeem them from death, oh death, I will be thy slave, oh grave I will be thy destruction.
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Repents shall be hid from thine eyes well. It seems to me that the spirit of God in First Corinthians 15.
Very accurate in the statement, then shall be brought to pass that which is said. It isn't exactly the fulfillment of the prophecy in Hosea, if that has more to do with the.
The Millennium and the blessing that come for death will be robbed of its power, and those who are saved will live through the 1000 years and go into the eternal state, won't they?
That saying that is written in the Old Testament can be applied in a special way.
Here are the rapture, when the Lord comes for his own that he takes to glory.
Should we sing hymn #323?
Behold himself, I'll call.
Back.
All my time.
To promote.
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. For as much as he know that your labor is not in faith in the Lord as we think of that which lies ahead and the certainty of it.
How fitting it is that the chapter would end with such a word for each of us.
Steadfast, unmovable, like the one fixed point of the compass, always abounding in the work of the Lord, that point of the compass that would reach out by the grace of God, to be engaged in that concerning which the Scripture says, We know that your labor is not in faith.
Open Mtg.
Open—A. Barry, G. Hayhoe, C. Lunden
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General Meetings, Toledo, November 1976. Open meeting.
Number 76.
Drive my soul by God directly. Stranger hands no more.
I.
For I mindful my God directly.
Stranger.
In the morning, strike my heart.
Around here Bridge.
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They were reading the First Epistle of John.
And Chapter 4.
Reading from the eighth verse.
First Epistle of John.
Chapter 4.
And verse 8.
He that loveth not knoweth not God.
For God is love.
And this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world.
That we might live.
Room here in his love, not that we love God.
But that he loved us, and said his son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Beloved, if God so loved us.
Also to love one another.
No man hath seen God at anytime if we love one another.
God dwelleth in US.
And his love is perfect, said in US.
Thereby know we that we dwell in him.
And be enough, because he hath given us of his spirit.
And we have seeds and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him.
And E in God.
And we have known and believed the love that God asked to us. God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
Therein is our love, Margin says. Love with us made perfect.
That we may have boldness in the Day of Judgment, because as he is.
So are we in this world.
There is No Fear in love.
The perfect love casts about fear.
Because here have torment be that spirit is not made perfect in love. We love him because he first loved us.
The man say I love God and hate us his brother. He is a liar.
For he that loveth not his brother, whom he hath seen.
How can he love God, whom he hath not seen? And this is his commandment that.
His commandment have we from him that he who loveth God loveth his brother also.
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We often hear this stated.
God is light and God is love.
Refine both the Amnesty pistol, but they're not put together as is often stated and often heard. But we have.
Between these two statements.
We have.
The 2nd, 3rd till we get to the 4th chapter.
That is, between the two wonderful statements that God is like and God is love, we have that distance because before the soul can enter into the wonderful marvelous.
Love of God. We have to know that God is light and that everything about us is exposed and brought into relief in His presence. And when we have found that, we are entirely supposed that nothing is hidden from him, just like fear when he was in the boat on the lake.
And he gets that great draft of fishes. He realized that he was in the presence of the very Creator who made all things. And he falls down at his feet saying, Depart from me, for I'm a sinful man, oh Lord, that is he. I discovered what God is in life, and then he learns how God is in love.
And when we found out that we have to do with a thin hating God, and everything is manifested and made naked and open in the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. And still, in spite of all our nothingness and all our sins and guilt and failure, that God loves us. That's what breaks down by every opposition and brings us to know that wonderful love, that God will love the world.
That he gave his only begotten Son the truth. Whoever believeth in him, should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Now in these verses I've read where we have the word love mentioned so many times, you'll notice where I began.
In the ninth verse, and this was manifested the love of God toward us.
That's the first thought, the love of God toward us. And then we get in the the 12Th verse. God dwelleth in US and his love is perfected in US. There we got God's love in it, and then we get in the in the.
The 17th verse here in his.
I'll read that as it is in the margin. Here is love with us made perfect? So we have the love of God toward us. We have the love of God in us, and we have the love of God with us. How his love towards us.
Takes us back before we came into existence. For it tells us in this was manifested the love of God toward us, because of God sent His only begotten Son into the world.
That is, God has displayed that love toward us when we were lost, and before we were lost anticipating.
Now the time when we would be in need and he spent his his son in that love toward us and then we get his love in it. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us. That's the 12Th verse. And his love is perfect, dead in us.
The love of God in it. Now that's what is chosen day one, that wonderful thought. The love of God in a poor Sinner down here just because he has accepted Christ as his own personal Savior. And then we get in that 17th verse here in yes, love toward us. Love with us, rather.
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Made perfect.
So you have, you see, the whole exception, our whole existence brought before when God sent his Son, and now it's the presence that love in US. And then we get it. We are carried on till the judgment day and then we get the love of God with us. So what a full display we have of the love of God.
The ward, sinful man.
Well, in the ninth verse, and this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him.
Now the first thought is life, because in our natural state we're dead in trespasses. And in Sweden song thought, isn't it just as dead as someone that's lying in the cemetery?
No desire, no heart, no thought, no interest in divine things, no concern about hereafter. But it's a marvelous thing that we're told this in the 5th chapter of John.
That the hour cometh in now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live.
Well, beloved friends, you might say, then if I'm a dead Sinner, there's no hope for me. Ah, there is. It's just to tell the dead man to get out of his grave and go to work, isn't it? Can't do anything. It's all over. Death has taken him away.
That for a Sinner that is as morally and spiritually.
Instead, there's one thing that's possible, and that is that he can hear the voice of the Son of God. Or are they any here that have never listened to the voice of the Son of God? Think of how he's speaking at this moment. Listen to his gracious word.
As he says, Come unto me for ye thee.
That labor and our heavy labor and that will give you rest.
So you see, the first thing is that we might live. That is the first thing the soul needs is life, that we like to live through him. Well, then we get here in his love, not that we love God, but that he loved us.
And sent his friends to be the propagation for our sins. Here we get the love of God displayed in its holiness.
And we need to remember, friends, that God is a holy God.
And so, because of the holiness, we needed one that would take our place to bear the judgment. And that's where propitiation is brought in.
That we love God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
You notice in these verses there's a very opposite of the demands of the law.
The law said, Thou shall love the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all our minds, and with all life strength. And then it says, And by neighbors thyself.
This verse kills me. It's not that we love God. Well, here's the love that goes out in the very opposite way. Not because there was a love in my heart to the God to whom I was responsible. It was when there was hatred in the heart toward him that God proved and manifested his love.
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Not that we love God, but that he loved us.
Beloved friends, stop and meditate on those few words that he left us and sent his son to be the pro 58 for our sins. That takes us to the cross that tells us how he he has suffered there, but just for the unjust that he might bring us to God the propitiation for our sins.
Then we get in the 11Th verse. If God so loved us, we ought to love one another. What a difference from the command of the law. First you see us to ourselves that we're to love God, our soul, mind, and strength. And then after the neighbor, the law said thy neighbors thyself. Now here's the principle of grace, if God so loved us.
There is a motive for it, Not a demand of the law, but a gracious appeal to the heart. If God so loved us, we ought to love one another.
I was thinking about the love of God in us. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in US and his love is perfected in US. In the first chapter, the Gospel of John, we have the same difficulty that's raised. I'll just turn to John one.
And the verse 18 for a moment John one and 18.
No man has been God at any time. The only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
We're told that God dwelleth in thick darkness, in light, unapproachable, whom no man hath been nor can see. That is, we are just shut out from the present of a holy God of majesty and power.
But oh, how lovely the verse comes in, The very verse that tells us that no man has been God tells us how we can see God.
The only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. Think of that one who came from the bosom of the Father, all the love that's expressed in that gift of all gifts, when God gave the front of his left and sent him into this world of spending sorrow to live here below among men, until the world put him out of this team by the cross.
Buried him and sealed his grave, and so they would never have him again among him. Well, that's the poor heart of man in this world. But that's the one friend that has revealed the unseen God, whom it is impossible for you and me to see her to behold.
How we find the same difficulty raised in this chapter before us?
No man has seen God at anytime. If we will love one another, God dwelleth in US and his love is perfected in US.
Wonderful. Isn't that the very way or the very time when God seems to be shut out, and the sun has manifested that love in this being? Now those whether His can have the very love of that one in their hearts.
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And manifest that love in their love for one another. Now that's a pure love, beloved friends, and it's a love that seeks all. Is the good or the one that the opposite of that love and care they wouldn't be then guilty of in any way, encouraging another to go on in the wrong course. And if we can.
Give them to speak.
That the course they're following is a mistaken that wrong course. Well, when there is restoration for restoration, but love can be shown out and displayed. Just like when Peter came back, I'm sure, after the Lord and visited him and had a controversy with him alone. You know, we find Peter with his brethren there in the 24th chapter of Luke.
For we're told that when the child from he may have came back to Jerusalem, they found the 11 gathered together, saying the Lord is risen and have appeared on the silence. For Simon, after denying the Lord and the Lord looked at him, he got up there and went out. He left the country of those enemies of Christ, never to associate with him again. But there was something more and something more precise.
And that was when the Lord restored Peter's soul.
And he went back to his brethren, and there was a full traffic restoration. And then in the we find them the 21St of John. How his publicly restored to his ministry when he asked judge the root of his failure. When the Lord has said, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me all. What a test it was, Peter. And you know how his reply was.
He said, Lord, thou N just as much as to say, Lord, I know that no one else can see any love in my heart for you after the way I feel, but I know that you can see that love, and when Peter has taken that humble.
Confession.
Of how he had dishonored his his Lord. By then he is happily restored.
Among his brethren, and the Lord tells Peter that he's going to honor him in the very way that he had dishonored him by denying him when he was being condemned to be here crucified.
You know, we might think, beloved friends, that communion is something that's beyond the rank and file among God's people. That is, for those who have gone on for years.
In a devoted and consistent way, but I like to read this.
It says in the 15th, 1St whosoever can tell, confess that Jesus is the Son of God. God dwelleth in him and he and God well there we have an expression of communion. It's just the owning the confessions.
Of who he is.
That gives that precious happy communion with himself.
Now I'll just go on to the last thought I had before me.
And the 17th verse here in his love with us made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment of all times that we can think of the the before the judgment seek and all our past history to come there before the judge.
Would be the last decade. And we can think of where we'd have boldness. Well, we think, oh, what shame, what a humiliating thing I feel that time. And now it's come up here at this have this judgment seat. But in that marvelous beloved friend that we can have boldness even in the day of judgment. And what is the reason given us that we can have that?
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Holy Bones.
At a time when everything will be manifested. In that case it says because as he is.
So are we. Not when we get to heaven, but in this world? Don't say as He was, knowing the Lord was here. He was on his way to judgment on the cross. Now he's beyond the cross, He's beyond the other side of the judgment, and it's just as He is.
And that being where he is now seated that we can view ourselves as he is just like the very one who is seated there. And that's why in view of all the coming judgment that we're set free from any thought of fear about, because as he is, so are we in this world.
Have a few thoughts on my heart brethren in connection with David. Could we turn to First Samuel?
Chapter 17.
First Samuel, Chapter 17.
The 32nd verse.
And David said to Saul, Let no man's heart fail because of him, and because of Goliath thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine. And Saul said to David, thou are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for thou art body youth, and he a man of war from his youth. And David said unto Saul, thy servant kept his father's sheep. And there came a lion and a bear.
And took a lamb out of the block. And I went after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth. And when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smiled him, and flew him. Thy servants flew both the lion and the bear, And this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them being he hath defied the armies of the living God. David said, Moreover, the Lord that delivered me out of the paw the lion, and out of the pawn the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this suicide.
And Saul said unto David, Go, and the Lord be with thee.
Now can we turn over to the?
Body 6. Capture First Samuel, Chapter 26.
Verse 25.
Sandy, it's all said to David. Blessed be thou my son David, and thou shalt both do great things, and also shall still prevail. So David went on his way, and Saul returned to his place. And David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should as speedily escape into the land of the Philistines, and Saul will despair of me, and seek to seek me anymore in any.
Coast of Israel. So shall I escape out of his hands.
Until we turn over to First Chronicles.
First Chronicles, Chapter 29.
Verse 10 Wherefore, David blessed the Lord before all the congregation. And David said, Blessed be thou, Lord God of Israel, our Father, forever and ever. Thine, O Lord, is the greatness and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty.
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For all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine, thine is the Kingdom hall. Lord, and thou art exalted its head above all, both riches and honor come of thee, and thou reign us over all, And in thine hand is power and might, and in thine hand it is to make great.
And to give strength unto all. Now therefore our God we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name.
But who am I, And what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? For all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee, for we are strangers before thee and sojourners, as were all our fathers. Our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding, Oh Lord our God, all this store that we have prepared to build thee in house, For thine holy name cometh of thine hand, and is all thine own.
While I was particularly thinking, dear friends of these two passages, at the first, especially in First Samuel and one, we see David counting upon God, leaning upon him in the face of a great difficulty. In the second we see him.
The very same man, but all how weak he was when he was not depending upon the Lord. And so surely the Lord teaches us the necessity of constant dependence upon Him. He teaches us the lesson that we must all learn, as it was remarked in the.
The Bible is the history of two men, the first man, an utter failure in anything and everything that he puts his hand to. But the second man, the last Adam triumphant, and you and I through grace are in him, and as we count upon him and lean upon him.
Oh, how he can in some little way use us for his own honor and glory here. We're so slow to learn that Christ is all and in all, but it's God's purpose that we should learn this. And we know he's all for salvation. Not one of us who was saved this afternoon would doubt for one moment that there is no salvation through ourselves. That as it says in Ephesians chapter 2.
By grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.
Either by our work, nor even by any faith that we could produce but all of himself. But isn't it strange that we are often slow to learn, and that he is also the only one who can supply the strength that we need for every step of our Christian pathway?
And all, how blessed two, to know that He is All in all as our gathering center, that he and He alone is the one around whom we gather. Well, in this first instance we find David, and he has been sent by his father to bring these things down to his brothers who are in the army, and he sees this great giant Goliath. Now, of course, we know that this represents Satan, and the chapter brings before us, undoubtedly.
Trade of the Lord Jesus has won over all the power of Satan and brought deliverance for us, but I would like to apply it in a practical way. David had learned some things in his own souls experience. When had he learned these things?
Well, as it tells us, it was when he was little in his own eyes, when he seemed to be an almost unnoticed member of the family. Because you'll remember that when Samuel came to the House of Jesse to choose the one who would be God King, it is rather noticeable that Jesse, his father, didn't even call David in. He called in the other members of the family. And when the day when Samuel had looked over all the others, he said, is there no other?
As he said, there's one other He's out minding the sheep. He was perhaps unnoticed. He and I sometimes feel unnoticed, unimportant that nobody cares, perhaps even sort of left out in the family. Well, perhaps God allows a circumstance like this in order to make us learn to lean upon him to realize that he is everything. And so David when he was left to perhaps out in the family life.
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When he was perhaps considered so unimportant, he was learning in the ways of God.
To lean and count upon God. And when the lion came, why there we find that in the strength of the Lord he slays that lion and delivers one of the chiefs that had about was about to be taken. Then there comes a bear, and again there is that confidence in God.
And God is teaching him to lean upon him. Oh, for great to accept the circumstances that God allows in our lives as the means by which he is teaching us dependence upon him. I have wondered if the lion would bring before us that mighty strength that would tear in pieces. But I understand the way a bear kills a person is by hugging him. That is kind of squeezing him to death.
Until you're in all the enemy uses different tactics.
He may come to seemingly destroy, but sometimes the world too may try and bring us into friendships and things that would also be harmful. But dependence upon the Lord enables us to be victorious. Now we find, as I said, He is sent down by his Father's down into the army of Israel, and even at this point his father didn't seem to consider it necessary.
Send him as one to be a soldier in the army. He wasn't important enough for that. But he's learning in the school of God and he comes down and he's slighted even on this occasion by his brothers who falsely accused him and say what did you come down for just to see the battle. It's just pride. No? He had been sent of his father's and through these things I say he must learn and he is learning.
That confidence in God. And then Paul says to him, your body, youth, you cannot do anything. But we find that there was a quiet peace in Davidde heart. And what was the cause of this? Well, because as it tells us here in the 36th verse.
My servants slew both the lion and the bear, and this uncircumcised suicide shall be as one of them being. He has defied the armies of the living God. He didn't look upon this giant merely as one who has seen stronger and was stronger than the armies of Israel, but he rather looked upon him as defying the armies of the living God. Were God's people in the state that they should be. No, they weren't.
They had asked for a king, and God had given them a king according to their own choice. Could he still recognize them as those who were God's people, those armies as the armies of the living God? Oh, isn't it lovely how faith always identifies itself with the people of God? And so here we find David identifying himself with the people of God. God owned them, and he sought to own them too.
And he said in the 37th verse, the Lord that delivered me out of the paw, the lion, and out of the paws a bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of his Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the Lord be with thee.
Where was his confidence? It wasn't in himself. Certainly he didn't say I was able to do this, but the Lord delivered me out of the paw, the lion. The Lord delivered me out of the paw, the bear. He didn't allow the feeling that his brothers had to him and what they had said to sour his heart. And we have to be careful, you know, when things are said to us that we don't allow any bitterness to arise in our hearts, because the Lord loves his people.
And having loved his own, which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. He sought the deliverance of the people of God. This was a great desire of his heart. And he overcame these personal thoughts, and he was willing to go out, counting upon God. What for? To gain some notoriety for himself. Now that God's people might be delivered, he loved them. He wanted them to be blessed. He couldn't see them brought into subjection under this Philistine.
Because he saw God's people from God's viewpoint, and here he was seeking their blessing and deliverance when we ought to know the story very well, and how he first of all put on Sauls armor and then he said no. So I haven't proved this. In other words, it hadn't been the custom of his life to lean upon an arm of flesh, and good for us if in some measure we have learned.
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That is no use to lean upon an arm of flesh, and that when an occasion arises where it seems that there's a good armed lean upon some person that really we can trust and count upon, we say, well, I think I can lean upon that person all. Let us learn. He that putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe. And we see this with David. Now he said, no, I don't care, I'm not going to wear Saul's armor.
Saying goes down to the brook, He chooses those stones of the brook. He goes in dependence upon the Lord. And the Lord brought a great victory. Well, this was a marvelous experience. There were wonderful points of progress, shall I say, in the life of David.
You know, dear friends, we can't lean on past experience. We can't say, well, because I've learned certain things. I I now wouldn't think of leaning on an arm of flesh again. No matter how many times the Lord seems to teach this thing, we have to keep learning them over and over and over and over again. The tendency of our natural heart is always in a time that arises in trouble to go back.
And lean upon some arm of flesh instead of upon the living God.
And so we would think, I would say, that David had learned something through all this. But when we come over to the end of the 26th chapter, after all those experiences that God had granted to him, ways that he had delivered him from Saul and everything.
At last, he says, as it were. Well, this is just about all I can stand. I just can't take it any longer. Perhaps you might have come to that point too. And perhaps you might say how well I tried to follow the Lord. I really did feel that I was leaning upon him about. It just seems that every time something goes wrong and it just seems that nothing seems to straighten around and get right.
And all this time we find such beautiful instances in the life of David is counting upon God as we have noticed his kindness shown the soul when he haunted him, cut off the piece of his garment, and showed him that he had spared his life. He took his sword from beside him, the sword with which one of his friends suggested that he kill him. And he brought it and said, here, saw, here's your sword.
I didn't kill you when I had the opportunity. All this is most admirable. All this was purely the Spirit of Christ manifesting itself in David. But as another has said, when difficulties arise, it seems that experience is of little value if we're not leaning on God, And I believe that's something for us to remember, Experiences of little value if we're not leaning upon God.
For there is no circumstance in life that is exactly the same even the second time David learned this. On a later occasion he went out against the Philistines and the Lord told him how to do it, and it was a great victory. The Philistines came back the second time.
Didn't say. Well, I know how to meet the situation. I'll just follow a president. This is what I did before. This is what I'm going to do again now. He asked the Lord, and the Lord gave him fresh direction for a new situation. There are no two situations in life that are exactly the same. We need fresh direction. We need the Lord. We need dependence upon him in every situation. And so if I had read the 26th chapter, you would have noticed this kindness that was shown by.
David to Saul, and how Saul actually himself had to say in the 21St verse of the 26th chapter, Behold, I have played the fools. I have earned exceedingly David. It's all recognized that he was wrong in the things that he had done to David. He told David that he was right and that he was going to prevail. But this was only an assurance of man. And after all this, after these experiences.
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Now notice the way the 27th chapter begins.
David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul, that is, after all this. He didn't turn and lean upon the Lord and count upon him, he says. I just can't stand up under this pressure any longer. All we can in our own strength. We can't meet the circumstances of tomorrow, And many of us know when we come to an occasion like this and we sit under the sound of God's word for three days.
There is perhaps a tendency in us to say, well, I think I can handle the situations tomorrow, but we can handle them tomorrow without the Lord. The one who has administered to our hearts here in these meetings is the only one who can give us the strength and experiences.
Even happy occasions in life are not enough to supply the strength, as the Lord said after they came down from the mountains and couldn't cast out the demon, he said. This kind doeth not out but by prayer and fasting. And so here we find David.
Nothing better. I'll have to go and escape and run to the country of the Philistines. I'll just have to get away from all this pressure. Where did he go to get away from it? Oh, he didn't get on his knees. He didn't go down to the brook like he did when he was going to meet the giant Goliath.
No, he went down to the Philistines. He went down to those who were God's enemies in the land and sold Austin. Is that in order to escape pressure? The world says, oh, there's an easy way out. You don't have to face up to these things all the time. And so there's the learning of the world to draw the hearts of the people of God into what seems like an easier path. But oh, what a denial it was of all of David stood for.
And isn't it true that when we depart from the path of faith, it's a denial of all that we properly stand for? As Christians, we have acknowledged the fact that salvation is by grace through faith. We have acknowledged to the world that we have no strength of our own. And yet when we.
To them, or lean upon some arm of flesh. We are forgetting that we have that fresh need of himself. And perhaps there is one more thing, too, that I could say in connection with this. It was part of the school of God with David. And sometimes, if we're not watchful, the Lord has to pass us through certain things that we have to learn through experience what we could have learned in communion with Him.
Isn't it true that we so often have to learn some lesson through a hard experience? How that we should have learned in communion, but God allows it so that no flesh should glory in His presence? You know, David had been faithful for so long.
That if God had given him the throne without this little indication of failure, David might have looked back on his past life and said, well, you know, I was so faithful, I put the Lord first, I honored him, and now see what he's done for me. He's delivered me and he's given me the throne. But as David looked back on his past life, he'd have to say when the time came that the Lord was going to give me the throne of Israel.
I had lost heart, and I was down among the Philistines. No credit to myself that I got it All. The glory must go to him, because if he hadn't intervened, I would have just ended my days there down among the Philistines. But God had his eye upon him.
No flash shall glory in his presence. He will always allow something in our most momentous and happy times in life to make us realize that we're nothing but we have no strength of our own, and that if it wasn't for his goodness and grace, we would never get to the end of the journey.
As we were, as it was brought before us last night. It's that work that's going to carry us through that priestly work, as it tells us in Peters epistle, where we have the wilderness brought before us. If the righteous with difficulty be saved, why does it say with difficulty? All because we're so prone to lean upon the flesh that if it wasn't for that one whose arms upstretched for us in sympathy and love, interceding, supplying grace to health.
00:55:09
And then that other hand of advocacy that restores us when we have failed, We never get through.
We never could. We never would. But it's nice to see here at the end where we turned in First Chronicles.
First Chronicles, Chapter 29.
Isn't it lonely here to see the syrup that David displays?
Wherefore David blessed the Lord before all the congregations. And David said, Blessed be Thou, Lord God of Israel, our Father, forever and ever. Thine, oh Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory and the majesty. For all that is in heaven and in the earth is thine. Thine is the Kingdom, Oh Lord, and our exalted as head above all.
Here is the same man, the one who, when faced with the giant Goliath, was able to say that this man has defied the armies of the living God. He's not going to be able to win because the Lord is going to give the victory, the same man who in a time of weakness said.
I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul. There's nothing better for me but to go down to the Philistine. God is passing him through things, and He's passing us through things. Brethren in our souls experience. What is it for that Christ might be all?
That we might give him the rightful place, the place that is his and his alone. As most beautiful as I read these things, to see the response at the end of David's life that he is now recognizing that everything comes from the Lord and he wants to give everything back to him, well, I think this is so lovely. He had gone out in so many battles. He had won so much.
He takes absolutely no credit to himself now.
Either for the victories he won, or for the exceeding amount of wealth that he had gathered to present to the Lord to be used for the building of the temple. He takes absolutely no credit to himself at all, everything, if he was able to give notice what he says in the.
13th verse Now therefore our God we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name. But who am I? And what is my people, that we should be able so willingly to offer so willingly after this short For all things come of these and of thine home have we given thee? Isn't this the most lovely expression of thine own have we given thee? What can we return to the Lord?
Only what He gave to us all. Let us never look back upon our lives to congratulate ourselves, to think that anything that we have done has been of ourselves, or anything which for which we should take glory for ourselves. But let us trace in all His ways with us that he is seeking to teach us this, this most important lesson, this lesson that none of us could say we have learned, but I hope we can say we're learning.
And that is that we are nothing, and that we need the Lord in every situation, whatever it may be.
Whether it's the power from without, like Goliath, Goliath, or whether it's Saul from within, whether it's his own family situation, whether it's the enemies around, whatever it might be, It was all of the Lord. And if he had gained something through his life and had a desire to give it to the Lord, he said Even that he said I I'm just thankful that I'm able to give it to the Lord. He gave it to me and he gives me now the privilege.
Of returning it to him.
Where we are strangers before the insurgenters as we're all our fathers. Our days on the earth There is a shadow and there is none abiding. May we not forget this because one mentioned before all that we have is the rest of our time. Our days on earth are as a shadow. There's nothing abiding in your suite. Perhaps look forward to years to come, but as we get older we begin to realize how short time really is.
But with the Lord's coming so near, whether you're young or whether we're older, it's still true. I believe the rest of our time is short. I believe the rest of our time is soon to pass. And it says there is none abiding. Oh, Lord, our God always store that we have prepared to build the in House of nine. Holy name cometh of thee, cometh of thine hand, and is all thine own. May the Lord give us grace to realize this in some measure.
01:00:22
And then there will be that which will abide in the coming day. There's nothing abides down here.
The things that are seen are temporal, but the things that are not seen are eternal. But it tells us the world passes away, and the luster of and he that doeth the will of God abideth forever well. And brother, may the Lord help us in these experiences that he passes us through to see His purpose in them, and that we may be able to count upon him for grace for every situation.
Sometimes situations that we wonder why they're allowed, they seem so impossible and sometimes they just seem so prolonged that we say, oh, there's just no end to it. And I'm sure that was the point that David felt when he decided to go to the Philistines.
And it might be that there are some, some young people perhaps have come here and who have been disappointed or discouraged by things that have been said, things that have been gotten. Oh, may the Lord give you grace to see that he's working out his own purpose in your life, and that purpose is that you might learn.
All things come of him, and that all we can do is return to him. Now that which he gives of himself to us, we can return to Him in praise and worship and Thanksgiving. May it be so as we think of the nearness of our Lords, return.
Luke's Gospel.
This dog was a 35th verse.
Just a few thoughts bearing upon what has already been said by both speakers.
But but wisdom is justified of all her children.
And one of the Pharisees desired him, that he would eat with him, and he went into the Pharisees house and sat down to meet.
And the older woman in the city, which was a Sinner.
When she knew that Jesus sat at me in the Pharisees house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, and stood at his feet behind him, weeping.
And began to wash his feet with tears.
And did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet.
And anointed them with the ointment.
Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that touches him, for she is a Sinner.
And Jesus answering said on the end. Simon.
I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he says, Master, stay on.
There was a certain creditor which had two debtors. The one owed 500 cents and the other 50.
And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both.
Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most?
The diamond answered and said, I suppose that he to whom he forgave most.
And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged. And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon.
See if thou this woman I entered into thine house.
Thou gave us me no water for my feet.
But she has washed my feet with tears and wiped them with the hairs of her head.
Thou gave us me no kiss, but this woman, since the time I came in, hath not ceased to kiss my feet.
01:05:00
My head with oil now did not annoy but this woman.
Have anointed my feet with ointment. Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loveth much.
But to whom little is forgiven, the same lovest little. And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven.
And they that sat at need with him began to stay within themselves.
Who is this that forgiveth sins also?
And he said to the woman, Thy faith has saved thee. Go in thee.
I believe we have a picture here.
Of the kind of material that forms the Church of God.
And that is the thinner saved by grace.
And added to that, we have this center in the presence of Jesus.
Now we've noticed here.
That.
There was love of God toward her, as has been expressed in the Epistle of God.
That love of God came down in Jesus. He.
Express it.
As a man, although he is.
This woman would never have dared Andrew Simons House.
Had she not known?
Something.
Of that love.
We find this woman saying nothing.
And yet there was a direct communication between this woman and the Lord.
Our brother expressed the thought of the love of God towards us in that.
Christ died or God gave his Son for us.
Imagine after the love of God in US.
Having given us his own spirit, I realize the Spirit of God is not given until Pentecost.
That I believe we have in pictures here that which that's before us.
Something that has to do with the ways of the Kingdom of God, as we have expressed in Luke's Gospel.
And if the Spirit of God is pleased before the Spirit is given to bring these precious truths together all in one picture, we should benefit by it.
Here's a woman.
Who is a Sinner? He knows he's a Sinner.
He knows, except for Jesus, he does not belong in that house. He was not an invited guest.
But you know, she was free.
Where Jesus was.
She was free.
And decide.
There was a love of God.
In her.
There is No Fear of that judgment. She realized who he was.
He realized, I believe, that she was in the presence of God.
And you know.
God judges sin.
But this woman was at ease in his presence.
Shall I say at ease more than at ease.
She was busy with what should characterize everyone of us.
Who by nature and practice are sinners and now redeemed to God?
Her attentions were directed upon Jesus.
Diamonds attentions were directed towards the woman.
He couldn't find out all about her fault.
He knew all about this.
He knew what kind of a woman she was.
That this woman's thoughts were directed.
Jesus.
Now we find this was true.
01:10:01
And remarks were made about David.
We find David was a man after God's own heart.
And we find as we read those lovely psalms, 6 Psalm 119, for instance.
How? His heart.
Was directed.
Lord the Lord to read with Jesus.
We find that this woman was one of wisdom. Children, what does this mean?
Well, she belongs to that company who knew something about dependence upon God.
Now we're not here this afternoon to condemn Simon.
Only God knew his heart.
Perhaps Simon had realized something in his life we don't know. He invited Jesus to his house. That was something.
The motive we don't know.
He was there.
And so let's take for the moment the fact that both diamonds.
And the woman represented here this afternoon.
And the Lord says to Simon.
You know that.
40th birth.
He said.
I have somewhat to say.
Unto thee and he says, Master Seon.
All beloved.
Does the Lord have somewhat to say to us this afternoon?
I might be a diamond. You might be like the woman who could pay your attention to Jesus.
But remember this.
Lord hath something to say to Simon?
And he says master stay on.
Diamond.
Paid no attention to the Lord as to the common courtesies of that land.
And the Lord reminds him of this.
And possibly.
We have been reminded in these meetings.
Of some things that good exercise our souls.
Her beloved you and I have been called.
In the highest calling that God should ever call any of his species.
And to be together in a company like this with so many.
And have such a happy time as one thing.
But Monday morning is another thing.
And you know, the disciples are on the Mount of Transfiguration.
And everything was wonderful, and the glories were there before him.
That when they got to the bottom of the mountain, they couldn't even cast out the demons that they had the authority and power to do.
Rather than the sense of being together in these practice meetings will never give us power.
For Monday morning.
There has to be something.
Of what we see.
In this woman.
And her attention.
Only upon these.
Diamond.
There was a certain creditor which had two debtors. The one owed 500 cents.
And the other 50?
That's the largest giving Diamond the credit.
For this fifty, I don't know.
We know who owed the 500.
And as we get older, some must learn who owes a 502.
And when they had nothing to say. And that includes us all.
01:15:07
Well, they had nothing to pay.
He frankly forgave them both. Tell me, therefore, which of them will love him both?
That's what we had in the Epistle of John.
Which will love him most?
Well, the one who has the sense of this and their soul.
And who is it that has a sense in their souls of loving Him most?
Is it Diamond who's occupied with the woman and her failure, or is it the woman who's occupied with only Christ?
And.
Discovering how much he's been forgiven.
Because, beloved, as we are occupied with Christ and I'll be practical in reading the gospel.
We will discover how much we owe.
Oh, how much wheel?
And he frankly forgiven it all.
And praise.
If it's right.
Will be that which rises from a heart and have a sense of this.
Of how much we owe.
The woman says nothing.
And now what did she do?
And he turned it with the woman and noticed he turned to the woman.
And he said unto Simon, See if thou this woman?
Right, that's all Simon was occupied with. And yet the Lord says, see if thou this woman.
What is he Speaking of?
Not what Simon was occupied with.
He wanted Simon to see what the woman was occupied with.
See if thou this woman.
Picture of the church now remember.
A moral picture of the church.
I entered into thine house. Thou gave us me no water from my feet.
If he has washed my feet with tears.
Wiped them with the hairs of her head.
Our brothers spoke of David, realizing that there was nothing that he could offer whatsoever of thine own have we given me?
As I known, have we given this?
And here we find this woman.
She takes all her glory.
He white his precious feet.
He couldn't walk like he walked.
Not in the measure, although we're told to walk as he walks. You know, John.
He couldn't walk in the measure in which he walks. In fact, her walk had not been good.
But you could be occupied with those fleets that had walked all the way.
To meet her.
And she could realize the value of her own soul, what he had done for her.
And so he said. He said.
Thou gave us me no kiss the seed.
Of affection.
The seal of affections.
As a little hymn says And we love thee, blessed Lord.
A return? Does he want a return of affection from his people? Indeed he does.
But this woman, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss.
My feet to kiss my feet.
My head with oil now. It's not annoying.
But this woman has anointed my feet.
With ice cream.
01:20:01
Wherefore I stay under thee hurt, then which are many are forgiven?
For she loves much.
But to whom little is forgiven? The same lovers little.
Is that the end of the story? No, beloved, because we have here a Sinner in the presence of Jesus and he's speaking directly to her at the close.
It's speaking directly to her.
And he says to her.
Thy sin.
Our forgiveness.
You know, when I was first knew the Lord, I didn't realize this.
And I prayed every night that my sins might be forgiven me.
Until I realized it all. Didn't forget.
That all been forgiven.
I knew the Lord before that, but I didn't know all my sins were forgiven.
But all our practice to be in His presence and to have him say beloved.
I speak this for some of the younger ones here.
Because I've had some gathered to the precious name of the Lord Jesus several.
Come to me and say I didn't know. I don't know whether I'm really saved or not.
I don't know.
Not solemn.
But in the presence of Jesus, he says to you.
Thy sins are forgiven.
#256.
Praise beside.
We also think.
David's Strength
Address—G.H. Hayhoe
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Have a few thoughts on my heart, brethren. In connection with David, could we turn to First Samuel chapter 17, First Samuel chapter 17, the 32nd verse. And David said to solve. Let no man's heart fail because of him, because of Goliath, Thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine.
And Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him.
For thou art body youth, and he a man of war from his youth. And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father's sheep, And there came a lion and a bear, and took a lamb out of the block. And I went after him, and mowed him, and delivered it out of his mouth. And when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and flew him.
Thy servants flew both the lion and the bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them.
Seeing he hath deflied the armies of the living God, David said, Moreover, the Lord that delivered me out of the paw the lion, and out of the paw the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the Lord be with thee.
How should we turn over to the 26th chapter, First Samuel, Chapter 26?
25.
Then it's all said to David. Blessed be thou, my son David.
Thou shalt both do great things, and also shall still prevail.
So David went on his way, and Saul returned to his place. And David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape into the land of the Philistines, and sorrow will despair of me and seek to seek me anymore in any coast of Israel.
So shall I escape out of his hands?
Until we turn over to First Chronicles.
First Chronicles, chapter 29.
Verse 10.
We're born David blessed the Lord before all the congregations, and David said, blessed be thou, Lord God of Israel, our fathers, forever and ever. Thine, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine. Thine is the Kingdom our Lord, and thou art exalted his head above all.
Well, rich, is an honor come of thee, and thou reignest over all, and in thine hand is power and might, and in thine hand that is to make great and to give strength unto all. Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name. But who am I, and what is my people that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort?
For all things that come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee.
For we are strangers before thee, and sod earners, as were all our fathers. Our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding. Oh Lord our God, all this store that we have prepared to build the in house for thine holy name cometh of thine hand, and is all thine own.
While I was particularly thinking, dear friends, of these two passages, At the first, especially in first Samuel and one, we see David counting upon God, leaning upon him in the face of a great difficulty. In the second we see him.
The very same man, but all how weak he was when he was not depending upon the Lord. And so surely the Lord teaches us the necessity of constant dependence upon Him. He teaches us the lesson that we must all learn. As it was remarked in the meeting, the Bible is the history of two men. The 1St man an utter failure in anything and everything that he puts his hand to.
But the second man, the last Adam triumphant, and you and I through grace are in him. And as we count upon him and lean upon Him, or how he can in some little way use us for his own honor and glory here we're so slow to learn that Christ is all and in all. But it's God's purpose that we should learn this. And we know He's all for salvation, not one of us. Who?
00:05:10
This afternoon, with doubt for one moment that there is no salvation through ourselves.
That, as it says in Ephesians chapter 2 by graces are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, either by our work, nor even by any faith that we could produce, but all of Himself. But isn't it strange that we are often slow to learn, and that He is also the only one who can supply the strength that we need?
For every step of our Christian pathway and all our blessed two, to know that He is All in all as our gathering center, that He and He alone is the one around whom we gathered. Well, in this first instance we find David, and he has been sent by his Father to bring these things down to his brothers who are in the army, and he sees this great giant Goliath.
Now of course, we know that this represents Satan, and the chapter brings before us undoubtedly that they created the Lord Jesus has won over all the power of Satan and brought deliverance for us. But I would like to apply it in a practical way. David had learned some things in his own false experience. When had he learned these things?
Well, as it tells us, it was when he was little in his own eyes.
When he seemed to be an almost unnoticed member of the family. Because you'll remember that when Samuel came to the House of Jesse to choose the one who would be God's king, it is rather noticeable that Jesse, his father, didn't even call David in.
We called in the other members of the family and when when Samuel had looked over all the others, he said, is there no other? Yes, he said. There's one other. He's out minding the sheep. He was perhaps unnoticed. You and I sometimes feel unnoticed, unimportant, that nobody cares, perhaps even sort of left out in the family.
Or perhaps God allows the circumstance like this in order to make us learn to lean upon Him.
To realize that he is everything. And so David, when he was left to perhaps out in the family life, when he was perhaps considered so unimportant, he was learning in the ways of God to lean and count upon God. And when the lion came, why there we find that in the strength of the Lord.
He slays that lion and delivers one of the sheep that had about was about to be taken.
Then there comes a bear, and again there is that confidence in God, and God is teaching him to lean upon him.
Over grace to accept the circumstances that God allows in our lives as the means by which He is teaching us dependence upon Him. I wondered if the lion would bring before us that mighty strength that would tear in pieces. But I understand the way a bear kills a person is by hugging him, that is kind of squeezing him to death.
And so you get all the enemy uses different tactics. He may come to seemingly destroy, but sometimes the world too may try and bring us into friendships and things that would also be harmful. But dependence upon the Lord enables us to be victorious.
We find, as I said, he is sent down by his father, down into the army of Israel. And even at this point his father didn't seem to consider it necessary to send him as one to be a soldier in the army. He wasn't important enough for that. But he's learning in the school of God and he comes down.
And he's slighted even on this occasion by his brothers who falsely accused him. And say, what did you come down for? Just to see the battle if this pride? No, he had been sent of his father's. And through these things I say he must learn. And he is learning.
That confidence in God. And then Paul says to him, you're about a youth, you cannot do anything. But we find that there was a quiet peace in David's heart. And what was the cause of this? Well, because as it tells us here in the 36th verse 5, servants flew both the lion and the bear, and this uncircumcised suicide shall be as one of them.
00:10:14
Being he has defied.
The armies of the living God didn't look upon this giant merely as one who has been stronger and was stronger than the armies of Israel, but he rather looked upon him as defying the armies of the living God. Were God's people in the state that they should be? No, they weren't. They had asked for a king, and God had given them a king according to their own choice.
Could he still recognize them as those who were God's people, knew those armies as the armies of the living God?
Oh, isn't it lovely how faith always identifies itself with the people of God? And so here we find David identifying himself with the people of God. God owned them and he sought to own them too. And he said in the 37th verse, the Lord that delivered me out of the paw the lion, and out of the paws a bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine.
And so said unto David, Go, and the Lord be with thee.
Where was his confidence? It wasn't in himself, certainly. He didn't say I was able to do this, but the Lord delivered me out of the paw of the lion. The Lord delivered me out of the paw, the bear. He didn't allow the feeling that his brothers had to him and what they had said to sour his heart. And we have to be careful, you know, when things are said to us, that we don't allow any bitterness to arise in our hearts.
Because the Lord loves his people, and having loved his own which were in the world, He loved them under the end.
He sought the deliverance of the people of God. This was a great desire of his heart and he overcame his personal thoughts and he was willing to go out counting upon God. What for? To gain some notoriety for himself now that God's people might be delivered. He loved them. He wanted them to be blessed. He couldn't see them.
Brought into subjection under this Philistine because he saw bad people from God's viewpoint, and here he was fishing their blessing and deliverance.
Well, we ought to know the story very well, and how he first of all put on Saul's armor, and then he said no. So I haven't proved this. In other words, it hadn't been the custom of his life to lean upon an arm of flesh. And good for us if in some measure we have learned that it's no use to lean upon an arm of flesh, and that when an occasion arises where it seems that there's a good.
Upon some person that really we can trust and count upon, we say, well, I think I can lean upon that person all. Let us learn, He that putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe. And we see this with David. Now he said, I don't care, I'm not going to wear Saul's armor. But he said he goes down to the brook. He chooses those stones of the brook. He goes in dependence upon the Lord.
And the Lord brought a great victory. Well, this was a marvelous experience. There were wonderful points of progress, shall I say, in the life of David. But you know, of your friends, we can't lean on past experience. We can't say, well, because I learned certain things, I, I now wouldn't think of leaning on an arm of flesh again.
No matter how many times the Lord seems to teach us things, we have to keep learning them over and over and over again.
The tendency of our natural heart is always, in a time that arises of trouble, to go back and lean upon some arm of flesh instead of upon the living God.
And so we would think, I would say that David had learned something through all this. But when we come over to the end of the 26th chapter, after all those experiences that God had granted to him, ways that he had delivered him from Saul, everything at last he says, as it were. Well, this is just about all I can stand. I just can't take it any longer.
00:15:01
Perhaps that you might have come to that point too.
And perhaps you might say, well, I tried to follow the Lord. I really did feel that I was leaning upon him. But it just seems that every time and something goes wrong and it just seems that nothing seems to straighten around and get right. And all this time we find such beautiful instances in the life of David.
Is counting upon God as we have noticed His kindness shown the soul when He haunted him. Cut off the piece of his garment.
And showed him that he had spared his life. He took his sword from beside him, the sword with which one of his friends suggested that he kill him. And he brought it and said, here, it's all, here's your sword. I didn't kill you when I had the opportunity. All this is most admirable. All this was surely the spirit of Christ manifesting itself in David.
But, as the mother has said, when difficulties arise.
It seems that experience is of little value if we're not leaning on God. And I believe that's something for us to remember, experiences of little value if we're not leaning upon God, For there is no circumstance in life that is exactly the same even the second time.
David learned this on a later occasion. He went out against the Philistines and the Lord told him how to do it, and there was a great victory. The fellow signs came back the second time, but he didn't say, well, I know how to meet the situation, I'll just follow a person and this is what I did before, this is what I'm going to do again now, he asked the Lord, and the Lord gave him fresh direction for a new situation.
There are no two situations in life that are exactly the same. We need fresh direction. We need the Lord.
We need dependence upon him in every situation. And so if I had read the 26th chapter, you would have noticed this kindness that was shown by a David to Saul, and how Saul actually himself had to say in the 21St verse of the 26th chapter, Behold, I have played the fool. I have earned exceedingly.
David is all recognized that he was wrong in the things that he had done to David.
He told David that he was right and that he was going to prevail, but this was only an assurance of man. And after all this, after these experiences, now notice the way the 27th chapter begins.
And David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day.
By the hand of Saul, that is. After all this, he didn't turn and lean upon the Lord and count upon him, he says. I just can't stand up under this pressure any longer. All we can in our own strength.
We can't meet the circumstances of tomorrow, and many of us know when we come to an occasion like this and we sit under the sound of God's word for three days, there is perhaps a tendency in us to say, well, I think I can handle a situation tomorrow.
But we can handle them tomorrow without the Lord. The one who has the minister to our heart here in these meetings is the only one who can give us the strength. Experiences, even the happy occasions in life are not enough to supply the strength. As the Lord said after they came down from the mountains and couldn't cast out the demons, He said this kind.
Doors not out, but by prayer and fasting.
And so here we find David. He said there is nothing better. I'll have to go and escape and run to the country of the Philistines. I'll just have to get away from all this pressure. Where did he go to get away from it? Oh, he didn't get on his knees. He didn't go down to the brook like he did when he was going to meet the giant Goliath. No, he went down to the Philistines. He went down to those who were God's enemies in the land.
And so it often is that in order to escape pressure, the world says, oh, there's an easy way out. You don't have to face up to these things all the time. And so there's the blurring of the world to draw the hearts of the people of God into what seems like an easier path.
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But oh, what a denial it was of all of David stood for. And isn't it true that when we depart from the path of faith, it's a denial of all that we properly stand for? As Christians, we have acknowledged the fact that salvation is by grace through faith. We have acknowledged to the world that we have no strength of our own. And yet when we.
Turn to them or lean upon some arm of flesh. We are forgetting that we have that fresh need of Himself. And perhaps there is one more thing too, that I could stay in connection with this. It was part of the school of God with David. And sometimes, if we're not watchful, the Lord has to pass us through certain things.
That we have to learn through experience what we could have learned in communion with him.
Isn't it true that we so often have to learn some lessons through a hard experience, and that we should have learned in communion, but God allows it so that no flesh with glory in his presence. You know, David had been faithful for so long that if God had given him the throne without this little indication of failure.
David might have looked back on his past life and said, well, you know, I was so faithful.
I put the Lord first, I honored him, and now see what He's done for me. He's delivered me and He's given me the throne. But as David looked back on his past life, he'd have to say when the time came that the Lord was going to give me the throne of Israel, I had lost heart and I was down among the Philistines.
No credit to myself that I got it. All the glory must go to Him.
Because if He hadn't intervened, I would have just ended my days there, down among the Philistines. But God had his eye upon him. No flesh shall glory in His presence. He will always allow something in our most momentous and happy times in life to make us realize that we're nothing, that we have no strength of our own.
And that if it wasn't for His goodness and grace, we would never get to the end of the journey.
As we were, as it was brought before us last night, it's that work that's going to carry us through, that priestly work, as it tells us in Peters epistle, where we have the wilderness brought before us. If the righteous with difficulty be saved, why does it say with difficulty? All because we're so prone to lean upon the flesh that if it wasn't for that one whose arms are stretched for us.
In sympathy and love, interceding, supplying grace to help, and then that other hand of advocacy that restores us when we have failed.
Never get through, we never could, we never would. But it's nice to see here at the end where we turned in First Chronicles.
First Chronicles, chapter 29.
Isn't it lovely here to see the spirit that David displays? Wherefore David blessed the Lord before all the congregations? And David said, Blessed be thou, Lord God of Israel, our Father, forever and ever. Thine, O Lord, is the greatness and the power, and the glory, and the victory and the majesty.
For all that is in heaven and in the earth is thine. Thine is the Kingdom, oh Lord.
And thou art exalted us head above all. Here is the same man, the one who when faced with the giant Goliath, was able to say, though this man has defied the armies of the living God, he's not going to be able to win because the Lord is going to give the victory. The same man who in a time of weakness said, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul, there's nothing better for me.
But to go down to the Philistines, God is passing him through things that he's passing us through things, brethren in our souls experience. What is it for? That Christ might be all that we might give him the rightful place, the place that is his and his alone and is most beautiful as I read these things to see the response at the end of David's life.
That he is now recognizing that everything comes from the Lord.
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And he wants to give everything back to him. Oh, I think this is so lovely. He had grown out in so many battles. He had won so much. He takes absolutely no credit to himself now, either for the victories he won or for the exceeding amount of wealth that he had gathered to present to the Lord to be used for the building of the temple. He takes absolutely no credit to himself at all.
Everything if he was able to give. Notice what he says in the 13th verse. Now therefore our God, we thank Thee and praise thy glorious name. But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able so willingly to offer so willingly after this sword, For all things come of these.
And of thine own have we given these? Isn't this the most lovely expression?
Of thine arms have we given thee. What can we return to the Lord? Only what He gave to us all. Let us never look back upon our lives to congratulate ourselves, to think that anything that we have done has been of ourselves, or anything which for which we should take glory for ourselves. But let us trace in all His ways with us that He is seeking to teach us this, this most important.
This lesson that none of us could say we have learned, but I hope we can say we're learning and that is that we are nothing and that we need the Lord in every situation, whatever it may be. Whether it's the power from without like Goliath, Goliath, or whether it's fall from within, whether it's his own family situation, whether it's the enemies around, whatever it might be, it was all of the Lord. And if he had.
Something through his life and had a desire to give it to the Lord. He said even that he said, I, I'm just thankful that I'm able to give it to the Lord. He gave it to me and he gives me now the privilege of returning it to him.
We are strangers before the insurgenters, as were all our fathers. Our days on the earth are as a shadow and there is none abiding. May we not forget this. As one mentioned before, all that we have is the rest of our time. Our days on earth are as a shadow. There is nothing abiding in your sleep. Perhaps look forward to years to come.
But as we get older, we begin to realize how short time really is.
But with the Lord's coming so near, whether you are young or whether we are older, it's still true. I believe the rest of our time is short. I believe the rest of our time is soon to pass. And it says there is none abiding. Oh Lord our God, always store that we have prepared to build the in house that I holy name cometh of thee, cometh of thine hand, and is all thine own.
Lord, give us grace to realize this in some measure, and then there will be that which will abide in the coming day. There's nothing abides down here. The things that are seen are temporal, but the things that are not seen are eternal. But it tells us the world passes away, and the luster of and he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.
Well and brother, may the Lord help us in these experiences that He passes us through to see His purpose in them, and that we may be able to count upon Him for great for every situation.
Sometimes situations that we wonder why they're allowed, they seem so impossible and sometimes they just seem so prolonged that we say, oh, there's just no end to it. And I'm sure that was the point that David felt when he decided to go to the Philistines. And it might be that there is some some young people perhaps have come here and who have been disappointed or discouraged by things that.
Things have been done. Oh, may the Lord give you grace to see that He's working out His own purpose in your life. And that purpose is that you might learn that all things come of Him, and that all we can do is return to Him. And that which He gives of Himself to us, we can return to Him and praise and worship and Thanksgiving. May it be so as we think of the nearness of our Lord's return.
Nearness to Christ
Address—C.E. Lunden
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Look thoughtful. The shot was a 35th verse. But wisdom is justified of all her children. And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him, and went into the Pharisees house and sat down to meet and behold a woman in the city, which was a Sinner.
Once he knew that, Jesus sat at me.
In the Pharisees house brought an alabaster box appointment.
As good as his feet behind him, weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears.
And then wipe them with the hairs of her head.
And fixed his feet and anointed them with the ointment.
Now when a Pharisee which had been in thought, he spoke within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that touches him, for she is a Sinner.
From Jesus answering, said unto him, Simon.
I have somewhat to say unto thee, and himself masters say on.
There was a certain creditor which had two debtors.
The one owed 500 cents and the other 50.
And when they had nothing to say, he frankly forgave them both.
Tell me, therefore, which of them will love him most?
The diamond answered and said, I suppose that he to whom he forgave most.
And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged.
And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon.
First thou this woman, I entered into thine house.
Thou gave us me no water for my feet.
But she has washed my feet with tears and wiped them with the hairs of her head.
Thou gave us me No Fear, but this woman, since the time I came in, hath not ceased to switch my feet.
My head with oil thou didst not annoy but this woman.
Hath anointed my feet with ointment.
Wherefore I say unto thee, her sins, which are many.
Are forgiven for she loveth much.
But to whom little is forgiven, the same lovest little.
And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven.
And they decided meet with him began to stay within themselves. Who is this that forgiveth sins also?
And he said to the woman, Thy faith has saved thee, Golden tea. I believe we have a picture here of the kind of material that forms the Church of God, and that is the Sinner raised by grace.
And added to that, we have the center in the presence of Jesus now.
We notice here.
That there was love of God toward her, as has been expressed in the Epistle of John. That love of God came down in Jesus. He expressed it as a man, although he is God. This woman would never have dared Andrew Simon Powell had he not known.
Something.
Of that love we find this woman saying nothing, and yet there was a direct communication between this woman and the Lord. Our brother expressed the thought of the love of God towards us in that.
Christ died as God gave his Son for us.
Who mentioned after the love of God in US?
Had a wilderness, His own spirit.
Now I realize the Spirit of God has not given until Pentecost.
That I believe we have in pictures here that were just before us.
Something that has to do with the ways of the Kingdom of God, as we have expressed in Luke's Gospel.
And if the Spirit of God is placed before the Spirit is given to bring these practice truths together all in one picture, we should benefit by it. Here's a woman who is a Sinner. She knows he's a Sinner. He knows except for Jesus, she does not belong in that house. He was not an invited guest, but you know, she was free.
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Or Jesus was he was free and decide.
There was the love of God.
In her.
There is No Fear of that judgment. He realized who he was.
He realized, I believe, that she was in the presence of God.
And you know God judges sin that this woman was at ease in his presence.
The light, they have eased more than at ease. He was busy with what could characterize every one of us.
Who by nature and practice are sinners, and now redeemed to God.
Her attentions were directed upon Jesus.
Simon's attention were directed toward the woman.
He could find out all about her fault. He knew all about this.
We knew what kind of a woman she was that this woman thought were directed towards Jesus. Now we find this was true and the remarks were made about David.
We find David was a man after God's own heart.
And we find as we read those lovely psalms, 6 Psalm 1/19 for instance.
How his heart was directed.
Toward the Lord, who really was Jesus, we find that this woman was one of Wisdom's children.
What does this mean? Well, he belongs to that company who knew something about dependence upon God. Now, we're not here this afternoon to condemn Simon. Only God knew his heart.
Perhaps Simon had realized something in his life. We don't know.
Invited Jesus to his house. That was something.
The Lord is. We don't know, but he was there.
And so let's take for the moment the fact that.
Both Simon and the woman represented here this afternoon.
And the Lord says to Simon.
And.
40th verse, he said I have somewhat.
To say unto thee, And he says, Master.
They are all beloved.
The Lord have somewhat to say to us this afternoon.
I might be a Simon. You might be like the woman who could pay your attention to Jesus.
But remember that.
The Lord has something to say to Simon.
And he says, Master, stay on.
Simon.
Take no attention to the Lord as to the common courtesies of that land.
And the Lord reminds him of this.
And possibly.
We have been reminded in these meetings.
Of some things that should exercise our souls.
Beloved, you and I have been called in the highest calling.
God should ever call and in his speech and to be together in a company like this with so many.
And have such a happy time as one thing.
But Monday morning is another thing, and you know the disciples were on the Mount of Transfiguration.
And everything was wonderful. The glories were there before him.
That when they got to the bottom of the mountain, they couldn't even cast out the demons that they had the authority and power to do.
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Rather than the sense of being together.
These precious meetings will never give us power.
From Monday morning.
There has to be something.
Of what we see in this woman and her attention.
Only upon the diamond.
There was a certain creditor which had two debtors. The one owed 500 cents.
And the other 50.
That the Lord is giving Simon the credit.
For this fifty, I don't know.
We know who owed the 500.
And as we get older, some must learn who owes a 500 to.
And when they had nothing to say. And that includes us all.
Well, they have nothing to pay.
He frankly forgave them both. Tell me, therefore, which of them will love them both.
Ah, that's what we had in the Epistle of God.
Which will love him most?
Well, the one who has the sense of this and their soul.
And who is it that has a sense in their souls of loving your mouth?
Is it Diamond who's occupied with the woman and her failure, or is it the woman who's occupied with only Christ?
And.
Discovering how much he's been forgiven.
Because, beloved, as we are occupied with Christ and I'll be practical in reading the gospel.
We will discover how much we owe.
Oh, how much we owe, and in, frankly, for giving it all.
And pray if it's right.
Will be that which rises from a heart and have a sense of this.
Of how much we owe.
The woman says nothing, and now what does she do?
And he turned it with the woman. Notice. He turns to the woman.
And he said unto Simon.
See if thou this woman. Why, that's all Simon was occupied with, and yet the Lord says, See if thou this woman.
What is he Speaking of?
Not what Simon was occupied with.
He wanted Simon to see what the woman was occupied with.
Searest thou this woman?
But for the church now remember.
A moral picture of the Church. I entered into thine house. Thou gaveest me no water for my feet. If she has washed my feet with tears.
Wipe them with the hairs of her head.
I rather spoke to David, realizing that there was nothing that he could offer whatsoever of thine own have we given me.
As I known have we given me.
And here we find this woman.
He takes all his glory, wipes his precious feet. He couldn't walk like he walked, not in the measure. Although we're told to walk as he walks, you know he's gone. He couldn't walk in the measure in which he walked. In fact, her walk had not been good.
But you could be occupied.
With those streets that had walked all the way.
To meet her.
And she could realize the value of it to her own soul, what he had done for her.
And so he said, he said.
Thou gave us me no kiss, the feel of affection.
The seal of affection.
As the little hymn says, and we love thee, blessed Lord.
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A return? Does he want a return of affection from his people?
Indeed he does.
But this woman, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss my feet, To kiss my feet.
My head with oil thou didst not annoying, but this woman has anointed my feet.
With ointment.
Wherefore I stay under thee first, then which are many are forgiven.
She loved much.
But to whom little is forgiven, the same lovest little.
Is that the end of the story? No, beloved, because we have here a Sinner in the presence of Jesus, and he's speaking directly to her at the close.
He's speaking directly to her.
And he says to her.
Thy sin.
Are forgiven.
You know, when I was first moved the Lord, I didn't realize this.
And I prayed every night that my sins might be forgiven me.
Until I realized it's all been forgiven.
Should all been forgiven?
I knew the Lord before that, but I didn't know all my sins were forgiven, but all our precious to be in His presence and to have Him say beloved.
I spoke this with some of the younger ones here.
Because I've had some gathered to the precious name of the Lord Jesus, several come to me and say I didn't know. I don't know what I'm really saved or not. I don't know. Not Stalin, but in the presence of Jesus he says to you.
Thy soul.
Are.
As He Is
Address—A.M. Barry
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
First, the person of John chapter 4 and verse 8.
He that loveth not knoweth not God.
For God is love.
And this was manifested the love of God toward us.
Because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world.
That we might live.
Who am? Wherein is love?
Not that we love God.
But that we loved us and fed his son to be the obituation.
For our sins.
Beloved, if God so loved us.
We ought.
Also to love one another.
No man hath seen God at any time.
If we love one another.
God dwelleth in US, and his love is perfect said in US, whereby know we that we dwell in Him.
And He and us, because he has given us of his spirit.
And we have seen.
And they testify that the Father sent the Son to be the savior of the world.
Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God.
God dwelleth in him, and he in God.
And we have known and believed the love that God.
Ask to us God is love and he that dwelleth in love.
Dwelleth in God, and God in him.
Therein is our love, Martin says. Love with us.
Made perfect.
That we may have boldness in the day of Judgment.
Because as he is.
Though are we in this world?
There is No Fear in love.
A perfect love cast about fear.
We can't hear that torment through that spirit was not made perfect in love.
We love him because he first loved us.
Say I love God and hate us, his brother. He is a liar.
For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom you have not seen? And this is his commandment, that.
His commandment have we from him, that he who loveth God, loveth his brother also.
We often hear this stated.
God is light and God is love.
To find both in this epistle.
But they're not put together as is often stated and often heard.
But we have them we between these two statements.
We have.
The 2nd, 3rd till we get to the 4th chapter.
That is between the two wonderful statements that God is like and God is love. We have that distance.
Because before the soul can enter into these wonderful, marvelous love of God, you have to know that God is life and that everything about us is exposed and that.
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We live in his bed and when we found that we are entirely posed that nothing is hidden from him, just like fear when he was in the boat on the lake and he got the big draft of fishes.
He realized that he was in the presence of the very Creator who made all things.
When he falls down at this street, getting depart from me, for I'm a sinful man, Oh Lord.
That is the I discovered what God is in life and then we learn what God is in love and when we found out that we have to do with a sin hating God and everything is manifested and made naked and open.
When the eye of Him was all we have to do. And still, in spite of all our nothingness and all our sins and built and failure, that God loves it. That's what breaks down by every opposition and brings us to know that wonderful love, that God will love the world.
That he gave his only begotten Son, that was forever.
Not very that have everlasting life.
Now in the verses I've read where you have the word love mentioned so many times.
You know where I began.
In the ninth verse, and this was manifested the love of God toward us.
That the first thought the love of God toward it, and then we get.
And the 12Th word, God dwelleth in US, and his love is perfected in US. There we got God's love in it, and then we get in the in the.
The 17th verse, wherein is always bad as it is in the margin here, is love here.
Perfect. Now we have the love of God toward us, we have the love of God in us, and we have the love of God with us.
Why is love toward us?
Takes us back before we came into existence.
Or tells us.
Remicade manifested the love of God toward us because of God sent His only begotten Son into the world.
How do God have displayed that love toward us when we were lost and before we were lost? Anticipating.
All the time when we would be in need. And He sent his Son in that love toward us, and then we get His love in it. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us as the first verse, and His love is perfected in it. There's the love of God in US.
All right.
Water through the Bay. One that wonderful thought the love of God in a poor Sinner down here.
Just because he has accepted Christ as his own personal Savior. And then we get in that 17th verse hearing with love toward us, love with us rather made perfect. So you have you see the whole existence, our whole existence not before.
When God sent his Son, and now at the present, that love in US, and then we get it. We are carried on to the judgment day and then we get the love of God with us. So what a full display we have of the love of God.
Who are towards sinful man?
Knowing that the ninth verse.
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And this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
The first thought is life.
Because in our natural state, we're dead in practices and in sins. Don't thought, isn't it just as dead as someone that's lying in the cemetery?
Lord is our no heart, no thought, no interest in divine things, no concern about hereafter. But it's a marvelous thing that we're told this in the 5th chapter of John.
That the all cometh in now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live.
Friends, you might say, then if I'm a dead Sinner, there's no hope for me. Ah, there is. Is this to tell the dead man to get out of his way and go to work? Doesn't it? Can't do anything all over that has taken him away?
That for a Sinner, that is as morally and certainly as good as one thing that's possible.
And that is that you can hear the voice of the Son of God. Or are there any fear that have never listened to the voice of the Son of God? Think of how he's speaking at this moment.
Give him to his gracious word.
As he says, Come unto me, all ye that.
Labor and your heavy labor and others give you will.
So when you say the first thing is that we might live.
That is, the first thing the soul needs is life.
That we might.
Live through him.
Well then we get here in His love. Not that we love God, but that He loved us.
And sent his friends to be the perspiciation for our sins.
Where we get the love of God displayed in its holiness.
And we need to remember, friends, that God is a holy God.
And so because of His Holiness, he needed one that would take our place and bear the judgment. And that's where propitiation is brought in. Not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent his Son to be the 458.
Wah, same. You notice in these verses there's a very opposite of the demands of the law.
The law says out and love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all our minds, and with all our strength. And then it fell around thy neighbors thyself.
The first verse killed me. It's not that we love God.
Well, here's the love that goes out.
In the very opposite way.
There was a love in my heart to the God to whom I was responsible.
There when there was hatred in the heart toward him, that God.
Who and manifested His love? Not that we love God, but that we love the beloved friend. Stop and meditate on those few words that we love us and spin His Son to do the pro 5018.
That takes us to the cross, that tells us about how he.
Wears suffered there the death for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.
That broke this year for our sins. Then we get in the 11Th verse. With God full of death, we ought to love one another. What a difference.
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In the command of the law.
First you serious to ourselves, that beautiful of God, our soul, mind and strength, and then they feel the neighbor. The law said thy neighbors, I felt. Now here's the principle of grace. If God so loved us, there is a motive for it, not a demand of the law.
But a great faith appeal to the heart, if God so loved it.
We ought to love one another. Now speaking about the love of God in it, no man has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in US, and His love is perfected in US. When they first chapter the Gospel of John.
We have the same difficulty that way. I just turned to John One and verse 18 for a moment.
John one and eight two. No man has seen God at any time.
The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, we have declared Him.
We're told that God dwelleth in thick darkness.
In light unaccoable, when no man hath been nor can see, that is, we're just shut out from the present.
Our holy God of majesty and power. But oh how lovely. This verse comes in the very first that tells us that no man has seen God. Tells us how we can see God, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father. We have declared it. There are One who came from the bosom of the Father.
All the love that's expressed in that gift of all gifts, when God gave in front of his left and set him into this world of spending thought to live here, to law among men.
Until the world put him out of his hue by the cross and buried him and filled his graves as though they would never have him again among him. Well at the core heart of man in this world. But that's the one friend that has revealed the unseen God.
Whom it is impossible for you and me to see her to behold.
While we find the same difficulty wave when this captured before, no man has seen God at any time. If we will love one another, God dwelleth in US, and His largest purpose is in US. Wonderful illness that the very way or the very time when God seems to be set out.
And the sun has manifested that love in this room.
Now those that are sick can have the very love that one in their hearts and manifest that love them, their love for one another.
Now that the pure love, beloved friends, and it's the love that speaks always the good or the one that the opposite, all that love and care.
You wouldn't see then guilty of in any way encouraging another to go on in the wrong course.
And if we can give them pursuit that the court, their following is a mistake in their own court, well, when there is restoration, full restoration, hard luck can be thrown out and displayed. Just like grandparents came back on shore after the Lord and visited him.
And had a controversy with him alone. You know, we find Peter with his brother there in the 24th chapter of Luke. For we're told that when the two from the nails came back to Jacobson, they found the 11 gathered together saying the Lord, the Lord is living.
00:20:01
Occurred under Simon first. Simon after denying the Lord, and the Lord looked at him, he got up there and went out, left the country, arose enemies of Christ, never to associate with him again. But there is something more and something more precise, and that was when the Lord restored Peter's school, and he went back to his bread, and there was a full happy restoration.
And then in that you find them that my first of John how his publicly restored to his ministry when he asked red root of his various when the Lord has said farm and son of Jonas lovest thou me all what attempt to a scooter and another heart is reply was.
He said, Lord thou N that is not just to say, Lord, I know that no one else can see.
Any love in my heart for you have to wear to that. I know that you can do that love and when Peter has taken that humble.
Convention.
Of how he had dishonored his, says Lord, I am here happily restored among his burden. And the Lord held either that he's going to honor him in the very way that he had dishonored him.
By denying him when he was, by invisible being condemned.
Crucified.
No, we might think, beloved friends.
That communion was something that beyond the rank and file among God's people.
That is for those who have gone on for years in a devoted and consistent way. But I like to read this.
It felt in the 51St whosoever consult.
That Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he and God, well, there we have an expression of the union. It's just the only the consulting of who he is that gives that practice happy communion.
To himself.
Now I just go on to the last thought I had before me.
And the 17th verse here in his love without me perfect, that we may have boon in the day of judgment.
At all times that we can think of the day before the judgment.
The all that past history to come there before the judge.
Would be the last occasion we can think of where we'd have boldness. Oh, we think, oh, what game. What an humiliating thing I feel that time.
And now it's come up where it just had this judgment suit. But then that marvelous beloved friend that we can have doomed in the day of judgment. And what is the reason given that we can have that holy boom at a time when everything.
Will be manifested in that case because as he is.
So are we not going to get to heaven? But in this world? Don't say as He will know when the Lord will hear. He was on his way to judgment in the cross. Now He's beyond the cross. He's beyond the other side of the judgment, and it's just as He is.
Then that being where he is now seeded, that they can do ourselves.
As he was just like the very one who heated there and that's why in viewer of of the coming judgment that will get through from anything that appeared out because as he was where are we in this world?
The Love of God
Address—A.M. Barry
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Reimbursed successful of John and chapter 4 reading from the eighth verse First Epistle of John chapter 4 and verse eight. He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love.
And this was manifested the love of God toward us.
Because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world.
That we might live.
Through him.
During his love.
Not that we love God.
But that we loved us and fed his son to be the officiation.
For our sins.
Delivered if God loved us.
We ought also to love one another.
No man hath seen God at anytime if we love one another.
God dwelleth in US, and his love is perfect, said in US.
Thereby no way that we dwell in him.
And we are not, because he hath given us of his Spirit.
And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God.
God dwelleth in him.
And he in God.
And we have known and believed the love that God has to us. God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
Therein is our love, Martin says. Love with us made perfect, that we may have boldness.
In the day of judgment.
Because as he is.
So are we in this world?
There is No Fear in love.
The perfect love casteth out fear.
Because here have torment, he that spirit is not made perfect in love.
We love him because he first loved us.
Man say I love God and hateth his brother. He is a liar.
For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this is his commandment, that.
His commandment have we from him, that he who loveth God, loveth his brother also.
We often hear this stated.
God is light and God is love.
We find both the amnesty pistol.
But they're not put together as it's often stated and often heard.
But we have.
Between these two statements.
We have the 2nd, 3rd till we get to the 4th chapter.
That is between the two wonderful statements that God is like and God is love. We have that distance because before the soul can enter into the wonderful, marvelous love of God, we have to know that God is light.
And that everything about us is exposed and brought into the release.
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In his presence and when we found that we are entirely.
That nothing is hidden from him, just like fear. When he was in the boat on the lake and he gets a big draft of fishes, he realized that he was in the present.
The very Creator who made all things, and he falls down at his feet, saying, Depart from me, for I'm a sinful man, O Lord. That is, He had discovered what God is in light.
And then we learned what God is in love and when we found out that we have to do.
With a thin hating God and everything is manifested and made naked and open in the eyes of him with whom we have to do. And still, in spite of all our nothingness and all our sins and guilt and failure, that God loves us. That's what breaks down.
By every opposition and brings us to know that wonderful love that God will love the world.
That He gave His only begotten Son, that was, whoever belameth in him, should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Now in the verses I've read where we have the word love mentioned so many times.
You'll notice where I began.
In the ninth verse, and this was manifested the love of God toward us.
That the first thought the love of God toward us and then we get in the the 12Th verse.
God dwelleth in US and his love is perfected in US. There we got God's love in it, and then we get in the in the.
The 17th 1St.
Wherein is, I'll leave that as it is in the margin. Here is love with a paid person. So we have the love of God toward us, we have the love of God in US, and we have the love of God with us.
I just love towards us.
Takes us back before we came into existence.
Or tell us when this was manifested, the love of God toward us, the cause of God, sent His only begotten Son into the world.
That is, God has displayed that love toward us when we were lost and before we were lost. Anticipating.
The time when we would be in need and he spent his his son in that love toward us, and then we get his love in it.
If we love one another, God dwelleth in us. That's the 12Th verse and his love, his perfect dad in US, There's the love of God in US Now that's what is true to be wonderful thought, the love of God in a poor Sinner down here just because he has accepted Christ.
As his own personal savior.
And then we get in my 17th verse here in yes, love toward us, love with us rather made perfect. So you have you see the whole existence, our whole existence brought before us when God sent his Son, and now at the present that love in.
US. And then we get it. We are carried on to the judgment day.
And then we get the love of God with us. So what a full display we have.
All the love of God.
Without toward sinful man.
Well, in the ninth verse. And this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
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Now the first thought is life, because in our natural state.
We're dead in practices and in sin. Isn't it just as dead as someone that's lying in the cemetery?
No desire, no heart, no thought, no interest in divine things, no concern about hereafter. But it's a marvelous thing that we're told this in the 5th chapter of John.
That the hour cometh, and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live.
Well, beloved friends, you might say, then if I'm a dead Sinner, there's no hope for me. Ah, there is.
Is this just to tell the dead man to get out of his grave and go to work? Isn't it? Can't do anything. It's all over. Death has taken him away.
That for a Sinner that is as morally and seriously.
House bid. There's one thing that's possible, and that is that he can hear the voice of the Son of God.
Or are there any here that have never listened to the voice of the Son of God? Think of how he's speaking at this moment. Live until his grace is good.
As he says, Come unto me, all ye that.
That labor and your heavy labor, and that will give you rest.
So you see, the first thing is that we might live. That is, the first thing the soul needs is life.
That we might.
Lived through him.
Well then we get here in His love. Not that we love God, but that He loved us.
And sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins, where we get the love of God displayed in its holiness.
And we need to remember, friends, that God is our holy God.
And so because of His Holiness, we needed one that would take our place to bear the judgment, and that's where propitiation is brought in.
Not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the Pro 58 for our sins.
You notice in these verses there's a very opposite of the demands of the law.
The Lord said, Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all our minds, and with the whole life thing, and then it says, And thy neighbors thyself.
But this verse tells me it's not that we love God.
Well, here's the love that goes out in the very opposite way. Not because there was a love in my heart to the God to whom I was responsible. It was when there was hatred in the heart toward him that God.
Proved and manifested His love, not that we love God, but that He loved us. Oh beloved friends.
And meditate on those few words that he loved us.
And sent you from these approaches for our sins that takes us to the cross that tells us how he.
Wears suffered there the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.
The propeciation for our sins. Then we get in the 11Th verse. If God full of dust, we ought to love one another.
From the command of the law, first you see us to ourselves, that we're the love God, our soul, mind and strength. And then there's still the neighbor. The law said thy neighbors, I felt. Now here's the principle of grace. If God so loved us, there is a motive for it.
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Not a demand of the law.
Precious appeal to the heart. If God so loved us, we ought to love one another.
Now speaking about the love of God in it, no man has seen God at anytime. If we love one another, God dwelleth in US.
And His love is perfected in US.
In the first chapter, the Gospel of John.
We have the same difficulty that way. I just turned to John One and verse 18 for a moment. John one and 18.
Your man has been God at anytime, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared him.
We told that God dwelleth in thick darkness.
In light unaccoable, whom no man hath been nor can be, that is, we are just shut out from the present.
Our holy God of majesty and power.
But oh how lovely the verse comes in. The very verse that tells us that no man has seen God, tells us how we can see God, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father.
We have declared it. Think about one who came from the bosom of a Father. All the love that's expressed in that gift of all gifts, when God gave the front of his left and set him into this world of spending thought to live here below among men, until the world put him out of his team by the cross.
And buried him and sealed his graves as though they would never have him.
Again, among them, well, that's.
At the core heart of man in this world. But that's the one, friends, that has revealed the unseen God whom it is impossible for you and me to see her to behold.
Now we find the same difficulty ways in this chapter before.
No man hath seen God at anytime. If we will love one another, God dwelleth in US.
And His lovest perfected in US. Wonderful, isn't it? That the very way or the very time when God seems to be shut out and the sun has manifested that love in this scene. Now those that are His can have the very love of that One in their heart and manifest that love.
In their love for one another.
Power, secure love, beloved friends. And it's the love that speaks always the good or the one that the opposite of that love and care.
They wouldn't be then guilty of in any way encouraging another to go on in the wrong course. And if we can give them to see that the courts they're following is a mistake and that wrong court, well, when there is restoration for restoration, but love can be shown out and displayed.
Just like when Peter came back, I'm sure after the Lord and visited him and had a controversy with him alone. You know, we find Peter with his brethren there in the 24th chapter of Luke. For we're told that when the two from the May have came back to Jerusalem, they found the 11 gathered together saying the Lord is living.
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And half appeared under Simon. 4 Simon after denying the Lord, and the Lord looked at him.
We got up and went out, left the company of those enemies of Christ, never to associate with Him again. But there is something more and something more precious. And that was when the Lord restored Peter's school, and he went back to his brother, and there was a full happy restoration. And then in the we find them.
Pray first of John, how his publicly restored curious ministry when he asked Judge Luke of his failure, when the Lord has said, Simon son of Jonas, lovest thou me all? What a test it was Peter, and to know how his reply was, he said, Lord thou north.
Just as much as to say, Lord, I know that no one else can see any love in my heart.
After the way I feel that I know that you can see that love and when Peter has taken that humble.
Confession.
Of how he had dishonored his his Lord by them. He is happily restored among his brethren, and the Lord tells Peter that he's going to honor him in the very way that he had dishonored him by denying him when he was by ambassador.
Being condemned to be here crucified.
No, we might think, beloved friends.
Communion is something that beyond the.
Rank and file among God's people.
That is for those who have gone on for years.
In a devoted and consistent way, but I like to read this.
It fell in the 50s. First, whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he and God, well, there we have an expression of communion. It's just the owning the confession.
Of who he is that gives that precious happy communion with himself.
Now I'll just go on to the last thought I had before me.
And the 17th verse here in his love without me perfect, that we may have bound in the day of judgment.
Times that we can think of the the before the judgment seat and all that past history to come there before the judge would be the last occasion we can think of where we'd have boldness. Well, we'd think, oh, what shame, what a humiliating thing I feel that time.
And now it's come up here at this perhaps this judgment seat, but then that marvelous beloved friend, that we can have goodness even in the day of judgment.
And why does the reason given that we can have that holy boom at a time when everything will be manifested in that day? It says because as he is.
So are we not when we get to heaven, but in this world? Don't say as he was know when the Lord was here. He was on his way to judgment in the cross. Now he's beyond the cross. He's beyond the other side of the judgment.
And if just as he is in that thing where he is now seated every time you ourselves as he is just like the very one who seated there and that's why in view of of the coming judgment that will set free from any sort of fear down.
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Because as he is, so are we in this world.
Two Families
Address—J. Brereton
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
I would like to turn first of all to the book of Jude for a couple of verses there.
The book of Jude and the 11Th verse.
Woe unto them, for they have gone in the way of Cain.
And then the 14th verse.
And Enoch also the 7th from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with 10 thousands of his Saints.
To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them.
Of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed.
And of all their hard features, which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
And now if you turn over to 1St Corinthians chapter 15 for a moment.
First Corinthians, chapter 15.
And verse 45. And so it is written, the 1St man Adam was made a living soul. The last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
And now if you'll turn over to Genesis chapter 4.
And Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bear king and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord.
And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.
And in process of time it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord.
And Abel he also brought of the first slings of his flock, and of the fact thereof.
And the Lord had respect unto Abel, and to his offering.
But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect.
And Cain was very raw, and his countenance fell.
And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou raw, and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door, and unto thee shall be his desire.
And thou shalt rule over him.
And Cain talked with Abel his brother, and it came to pass when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.
And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not am I my brother's keeper? And he said, What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth, to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand. When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength.
A fugitives and a Vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.
And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth, and from thy face shall I be hid, and I shall be a fugitive and a Vagabond in the earth. And it shall come to pass that everyone that findeth me shall slay me.
And the Lord said unto him, Therefore, whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.
And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod in the east of Eden. And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bare Enoch, and he builded a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son Enoch.
And unto Enoch was born Irad, and Irad begat Nehu jail, and Nehu Jail begat Methuselah, and Methuselah begat Lamech.
And Lamech took unto him two wives. The name of the one was Ada, and the name of the other Zillah.
And ate a bear Gable. He was the father of such as well intention of such as have cattle.
And his brother's name was Jubal. He was the father of all such as handled the harp and organs and zilla. She also bared 2 volcanes, an instructor of every artistifer in brass and iron. And the sister of Tubal Kane was Naima.
And Lamech said unto his wives, Ada and Zilla, hear my voice, ye wives of Lamech.
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Hearken unto my speech.
For I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt. If king shall be Avenged Sevenfold, surely. Truly. Lamech 70 and sevenfold.
And Adam knew his wife again, and she bare a son, and called his name Seth. For God said, She hath appointed me another seed. Instead of Abel, whom Cain flew and possessed. To him also there was born a son, and he called his name Enoch. Then began then to call upon the name of the Lord. This is the book of the generations of Adam in the day that God created man.
In the likeness of God made he him male and female, created he them and blessed them, and called their name Adam.
Day when they were created and Adam lived and 130 years.
And began a son in his own likeness after his image and called his name Seth.
And the days of Adam after he had begotten sack were 800 years, and he begat sons and daughters.
And all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, and he died.
And if you'll drop down to the 18th verse and Jared lived in 160 in two years and he begat Enoch.
And Jared lived after he begat Enoch 800 years and begat sons and daughters, and all the days of Jared were 960 in two years, and he died.
And Enoch lived 60 and five years and begat Methuselah.
And Enoch walked with God.
After he begat Methuselah 300 years.
And begat sons and daughters. And all the days of Enoch were 360 and five years. And Enoch walked with God, and he was not.
For God took him Well, dear young people, what I have before me this afternoon.
Is to speak for a little while about.
The two families that God's Word set before.
We find, for instance, in the book of Jude.
That we have reference made to the way of Cain.
And we find that reference is made to the prophecy of Enoch.
Now these men were in different families.
In fact, can we have?
The family of unbelief.
The family that lives, that seeks after its satisfaction.
That is characterized by things that are identified with this world.
And an Enoch.
We have one who was part of the family of faith.
We find in First Corinthians chapter 15.
That two atoms are set before us.
The first atom.
And the laugh at him.
And what I would like to speak of this afternoon is to see here in these two chapters before us.
That which springs from the first atom.
And that which springs from the last atom.
That which is identified with Cain and that which is identified with Enoch.
Now we began reading in the 4th chapter.
Where Adam and Eve have been cast out of the garden and Eve conceives and has a son.
This is a son that is born outside of the garden. This is a son who is to be identified with a family of unbelief. And so we see that teen.
Begins his history.
By seeking to approach God.
In a way that's evident that showed that he had not believed the sentence that God had passed upon the world.
You turn back to the third chapter for justice a moment.
And the 17th verse verse.
And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife.
And hath eaten of the tree of which I commanded these things, thou shalt not eat of it.
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Is the ground for thy sake.
Now we find in the part that we began with this afternoon.
At the end of the second verse tells us Cain was a tiller of the ground.
And in process of time it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord.
All beloved young people, why is it if you're not saved this afternoon?
Why is it that you're not saved?
Can you truly say it's because you don't know how to be saved?
Or would you have to line up here with Cain and say it's because?
I haven't believed what God has said.
We find in this world today there are millions and millions who have heard the gospel that are not saved.
They do not believe two things.
One, the goodness that's in the heart of God for them.
And secondly.
How utterly lost.
The first man.
Truly is.
And so we find in the case of Cain, even though the sentence had been passed, cursed is the ground.
Teen seeks to bring in his offering to God that which came from a cursor.
And it could not be accepted.
And so we find, dear young people, that the first characteristic.
Of this family that springs out of Adam through Cain.
Is unbelief.
All that God has revealed.
Unbelief of what God has said about man.
Unbelief of the goodness that's in the heart of God.
The next thing we find is.
That Adam.
Had been provided with a coat of skin.
Eve had been provided with a coat of skin.
The very evidence introduced dear young people.
That the only way man's nakedness before God could be covered.
Was by the death of another.
But Cain apparently did not believe this either.
Abel offers.
A slain sheep.
The first slings of his flock.
But Cain offers the fruit of a cursed ground.
Then if you notice in the.
6th verse.
After God has revealed to Cain.
That his offering was not accepted.
It tells us in the sixth verse. And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth, and why is thy countenance fallen?
If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted, and if thou doest not well sin.
Or a sin offering lieth at the door.
I believe that what God was saying to Cain here was.
Why are you angry? Why is your countenance fallen?
The same way of approaches open to you.
As was open to your brother Abel.
And dear young people, if I can say a word again to any that are here that are not saved this afternoon.
First of all, as we have said, it springs from unbelief of what God has said about your need and about the one that meets that need.
But secondly, we find that God says to your heart, as he said to Cain, that's the very same way is open for you to come.
As has been accepted by so many here this afternoon.
Dear young people, many here can vote for the wondrous merits of the precious blood of Christ.
Many here can bear testimony to the wondrous grace of God.
Has ever given us to see by faith that it was by the sacrifice of another God's beloved Son that we have found acceptance before God in Christ, in God's beloved Son. But to those who are not saved this afternoon, the same message is given to you as was given to King.
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You are free to come in the same way.
Through the death of another.
You are free to come and find acceptance too.
True belief.
In the finished work of God's beloved Son of Calvary.
Can I again make one appeal before I leave this park?
If you're not saved, don't go away from this meeting today without first accepting Christ as your Savior. What a tragedy, dear young people, if we should reach, as we will find in a few moments, the end of that course for the family of faith.
And you should still be here without Christ.
Well, as I say, we find the first characteristic of this family of Cain, this way of Cain, is unbelief.
The second is refusal to accept.
Provision that God has made for your salvation.
The eighth verse And Cain talked with Abel, his brother, and it came to pass.
When they were in the field that Cain rose up against Abel, his brother.
And flew him.
Now we find.
That the way of Cain is characterized by death.
Death comes in.
1St man dear young people Market. The 1St man brought in that which in its fruit produce death.
It has struck my own soul as a parent.
I submit to you, my beloved brethren, that Eve never really.
Fully saw.
The significance, the result, the fruit of what she had done in the garden until the day came when she saw death before her eyes and the person of her own son, Abel.
The reason I say that?
Is that we can find ourselves as parents.
Reaching for things in this world, for our children.
Only to find out the tragic results for them.
And then when it is too late.
We realize that we never should have done it.
Allowing things into our homes.
That introduced that which brings in death.
And corruption.
And violence.
Where we find that when Cain has his way.
The result is death, Death for Abel.
Then when we go down a little bit, we come to the.
11 first.
God has spoken to Cain about his brother.
And in the 11Th verse the Lord now says, And now ourselves cursed from the earth, which has opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand, when thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto be her strength. A fugitive and a Vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.
And Cain said unto the Lord, By punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth, and from thy face shall I be hid, and I shall be a fugitives and a Vagabond in the earth. And it shall come to pass that everyone that findeth me shall slay me. Dear young people, does that not sound familiar?
Do we not find it even today?
There are those who, reaping the consequences of sin and departure from God, still find it in their hearts to blame God for the consequences.
To blame God for what has come in. To blame God as King did here.
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Saying my punishment is more than I can bear.
He speaks of that which was going to be the result of his own willful sin and departure from God, and at the same time.
Tells God that it's more than he can bear, and that it's really all God's fault for punishing him this way.
The next thing we find is in the 15th verse. And the Lord said unto him.
Therefore, whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him. And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden.
It has often been said to young people, and rightly so.
That God has withheld some man the full consequences of his fall.
He has not yet reached the full consequences of it, for instance, even though the ground is cursed.
And doesn't produce as it could, it nevertheless produces much food as we can bear testimony to a few moments ago.
We find in the case of Adam, in the case of Cain, I should say that God suspended the carrying out of the full consequences of what?
Cain had done and was doing.
And what does Cain do as a result? Oh dear young people, he goes out from the presence of the Lord.
And instead of owning before God, that God was righteous.
And seeking by God's grace to avail himself of the way of approach back to God.
Through the death of another, we find that Cain goes out from the presence of God.
And seek to make this world as attractive to him as he possibly can.
And so we find that when the sentence.
The sentence of death which Hungover came was temporarily suspended.
The result in the life of Cain was not repentance, it was not a turning to God, it was not a cry for mercy, but it was a determination.
To make this world as attractive as he could.
Away from the presence of God. Dear young people, that's the world that I would like to talk to you about for a few moments.
You notice it says in the 19th verse Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden.
And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bare Enoch, and he builded a city.
And called the name of the city after the name of his son Enoch.
Where he is now.
Man the builder. He's building a city. He's lost the garden.
But he's building a city.
A city that is called by the name of his own son. If I could put it this way, dear young people, and the way it strikes my own soul, it's as if man says this is what I have done and I'm putting my stamp on it to prove that it's the fruit of my own doing. The fruit of Cain's own life was stamped upon that city.
And that's exactly the world in which we live, all beloved young people, this world, what God speaks of as the world when he says love, not the world, neither the things that are in the world. It's Speaking of Cain's world, this world that was erected outside of the presence of God. And as I say, the first thing that it's marked by is.
Man's name written upon it.
I was struck very much some years ago when Canada had.
A world exhibition.
And they it was held in Montreal and in the advertisements that were put out for that.
Exhibition.
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It was called Man and his World. That's exactly what Cain did.
Man and his world, he said. This is my city. The fruit of my doing bears the name of my son.
The name of Enoch.
Then we find it says, And unto Enoch was born Irad, and Irad begat Methusel, and so on. And then dropped down to the 19th verse, and Lamech took unto him two wives. The name of the one was Ada, and the name of the other Zilla and Ada bear Gable. He was the father of such a dwelling tent.
And as such as have cattle.
Now I will leave it to you to do the counting.
But if you follow the names that are written here in this chapter.
You will find that the 7th.
Adam.
Through Cain was Lamech.
And we will find in a few minutes the Lord gives us the time for it. Let the 7th from Adam through Seth was Enoch.
We find here that the 7th.
From Adam through Cain, if I could use this terminology, Dear young people, what God is saying to us, I want you to see the end of the course.
That number of completeness.
The number seven, God says look at the end of the course. Look at where that world leads.
And what do we find?
We find corruption all, Indeed we do. We find Lamech has corrupted God's orders. He has introduced that which stamps all over this world today, that which is seeking man's own will to satisfy his own carnal nature. And so we find that Lamech has two.
Y not one.
We find that that is, which has been introduced.
To seek to make this world an attractive place, you notice it tells us.
That table he was the father of such as dwelling tents, and of such as have cattle.
His mother's name was Jubal. His brother's name was Jubal. He was the father of all such as handled the harp and organ.
And Zilla? She also bare tubal cane, an instructor of every artistifer in brass and iron.
While God has put here in very general terms for us what we might call the world of commerce.
The world of entertainment and the world of science.
But then you notice it says in the end of the 22nd verse, and the sister of Tubal Cain was Naima. That has struck one's own soul. Because you know, dear young people, the meaning of the word name is pleasant. And this was what the whole plan was for Cain had been outside of the presence of God, but he wanted where he was.
To bear his own stamp, to be the fruit of his own doing, and it to be a pleasant place. And so he builds the city.
And so his offspring introduced into it.
These things that are so characteristic of this world, oh, how much man boasts of the progress that he has made.
In the world of entertainment, in the world of science and the world of industry.
Perhaps more so on this conscience than in anywhere else in the world. And yet, where is it all leading?
All dear young people, notice that. Where does it all lead? Here's Lamech the 7th, the end of the course. He looks at all that he has. He looks at all that has been produced, even from his own grandchildren.
And he passes a verdict on it all. He says. And Lamech said unto his wives, Ada and Zillah.
Hear my voice, you wives of laymen, hearken unto my speech, for I have slain a man to my wounding and a young man to my hurt. If Cain shall be Avenged Sevenfold, truly, Lamech 70 and seven four. That's the end of the course for this world. And dear young people, the world doesn't get better, it gets worse.
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We find here in connection with Lamech, that he can pronounce his own judgment, his own sentence. He knows what he has done. He can look back, as it were, to cave and what progress has been made.
No progress.
Just an increase.
In the judgment that's ahead for this world, my friend, dear young people, how Solomon is to look at a chapter like this, to read this history of the family of king, the way of Cain, and to see where the world leads, what its characteristics are, and what it ended.
To be judged of God. Dear young people, is this world anymore guilty now than it was?
In the day of Cain, yes indeed, the debt has piled up.
But the way of the world has not changed. It's still a way of corruption.
It's still a world of violence. It's still a world that seeks.
To satisfy itself.
Outside of the presence of God.
Dear, beloved young people, that's the world.
That Satan seeks to entice your heart and mind to be taken up with.
That's the world that God paints so graphically for us in his Word and then says to your heart and my love, not the world.
Neither the things that are in the world.
If any man loved the world.
The love of the Father is not in Him. We cannot be taken up with this world.
And being enjoying the love of the Father at the same time.
Now let's go on and look at the next family.
The 25th verse Adam knew his wife again, and she bare a son, and called his name Seth. For God said, She hath appointed me another seed, instead of Abel, whom king flew and possessed to him also they were born a son, and he called his name Enoch. Then began then to call upon the name of the Lord. This is the book of the generations of Adam, in the day that God created man in the likeness of God.
Made he him male and female, created he then and blessed them and called their name Adam in the day when they were created.
We find here, if I could put it this way, dear young people, because if God says now I'm going to start all over again.
I want to start off and even uses the words. This is the book of the generations of Adam.
You were to go back to the second chapter and the fourth verse. It says these are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created.
In the day that the Lord God made the earth into heaven, and then we see what flowed from Adam and Eve, that first Adam and now God brings before us in type the last atom. The last atom we find that here is one who has the language here said in the day that God created man in the likeness of God made he him.
Now, dear young people, mark what I say carefully.
The Lord Jesus as God is eternal.
As God, He had no beginning, neither beginning of days nor end of life.
But the Lord Jesus as man was born into this world.
A babe in Bethlehem's Manger. And here was one, finally in this world.
That fully in every way, in every aspect, in every word that He said, in every thought, in every expression, everything fully revealed the mind and heart of God.
Think of the Lord Jesus being here and saying he that hath seen me.
Hath seen the Father? Who is this one? Why, it's the last Adam?
The last item, the one who not only did not fail, but could not fail.
The one who not only did not sin, but could not sin. He is God's beloved Son.
And we find that it is spoken of here in the.
25th verse has appointed me another seed. Yes, this indeed was a new seed and new seed. This was the corn of wheat that would fall into the ground and die and bring forth much food. And you'll notice it tells us that when God saw before him that second Adam.
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The one that we read about, the last Adam, I should say the last Adam.
When God saw before him the last Adam, he saw identified with him.
I bribed 1 to share his place of headship.
And so we find in the beginning of the 5th chapter in this family of faith.
We find that the one who is set at its head is the last battle and with him.
A bride so closely identified with himself that she bears his name. And so it tells us, bless them and call their name Adam in the day when they were created. But then notice the next word. And Adam lived in 130 years and begat a son in his own likeness.
After his image. Now, dear young people, this.
Is what characterizes the family of faith. The corn of wheat has fallen into the ground and died.
And it has brought forth fruit. What kind of fruit?
All beloved young people, what kind of fruit has been produced by this new seed?
By this one who?
Came from God.
Why? It's fruit after his own image and likeness.
And so we find that you and I, that here today belong to Christ. If you know the Lord Jesus Christ is your Savior. Beloved young people, you are now not one day, but now. You are a new creation. You are a new creature in Christ Jesus. You are part of a new creation of which the Lord Jesus is the head.
And that creation, that new creation, is made-up of those who have been made.
In the image and likeness of the head, Isn't it a precious thing to think that today, here this afternoon, you have the same life and the same nature as God's beloved Son?
That's your life, that's your nature. You can pick up this precious book and read through Matthew and Mark and Luke and John and read the history, the life story of that glorious man out of heaven, and you can stay honestly on the authority of God's Word. That's my life that I'm reading about. I have that same life that is seen there.
In God's beloved sign, when Christ, who is our life, shall appear.
Then shall we also appear with Him in glory? You see the nature of God displayed in all its love and loveliness in the person of Christ. And you can say that's my nature. I have been given the same nature partakers.
Of the divine nature.
What a miracle of grace so it was with that Seth was the one.
Who came if I could use the type that we have here from the last atom?
And he's the one who is made in the very likeness and in the image.
Of Adam, all beloved young people, could God do more for you than that?
To give you now in this world the same life and the same nature, and to give you the promise.
That you're going to have a body fashioned like unto his body of glory.
Now, dear young people, if we belong to Christ, that is our life and that is our nature.
How is that what's seen? Is that what's manifested? Is that what the world sees? Well, we find in the connection with Seth a most lovely thing. You go back to the end of the fourth chapter for a moment, it says, and assess. To him also there was born a son, and he called his name. Enos then then began to call upon the name of the Lord.
All beloved young people, what is the fruit? What is the fruit of the new nature?
What is the fruit of this new creation?
All its hearts and minds taken up with the Lord and glory. Cain is taken up with his world.
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The new nature is taken up with the Lord Himself.
Men began then to call upon the name of the Lord. Hear what Seth the fruit.
Of the new creation, and the result is the heart occupied with the Lord Jesus Christ.
King, his heart taken up with the fruit of his union. And what do we find? A city named after his son, His heart taken up with this world and seeking to make it as attractive as possible.
The next thing I would draw your attention to, it tells us and the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were 800 years, and he begat sons and daughters and all the days that Adam lived where 930 years and he died.
Now, dear young people, as I mentioned to you earlier, the 7th, the end of the course for faith, the family of faith, the new creation, the fruit.
Of the last item.
The end of that course?
In the tithes, the 7th from Adam is Enoch.
And it tells us if you drop down to the 21St verse and Enoch lived 60 and five years and begat Methuselah.
And Enoch?
Walked with God Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah 300 years.
And begat sons and daughters.
Oh dear young people, what a precious privilege given to man. This one who is the part of that family of faith, never says anything about Cain walking with God. He went out from the presence of the Lord. It never says anything about anyone in that world that came world walking with God.
No, but Enoch walked with God.
Now, lest there be many misunderstandings, let me emphasize to you that the Word of God speaks of you as being in this world.
We're in this world, but we are not of this world. We're not of it. The very language the Lord Jesus says in the 17th of John, Speaking of his own. He says these are in the world and I come to thee. But then he says, but they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. And dear young people, here was a man who walked in the world, but not of it. He walked with God.
And the end of that court?
What's the glory?
Enoch walked with God, and he was not.
For God took him, God took him.
So it tells us the 24th verse. And Enoch walked with God and he was not.
For God took him.
In the second chapter of Amos.
You will find there where God speaks to Israel and He says that His purpose, His plan for their children was that they should be prophets and Nazareth and here was a man who was a prophet and a Nazarite. Do you remember how it tells us in Jude that Enoch the 7th from Adam prophesied saying?
Behold, the Lord cometh with 10 thousands of his Saints.
Beloved young people, here was the one, the fruit of that family of faith, the fruit of the last Adam, the one who was made in the image and the likeness of that one who came from God. Beloved young people, the end of that course, the end of that family of faith is in the glory. That's where Enoch went, and that's where you and I are going to be.
What a privilege to walk with God now.
And to be a prophet for him in the midst of Cain's world. It has struck me so much that here was Enoch and what was he talking about? What was he bearing testimony to? Why he was bearing testimony to the very ungodliness of Cain world. He wasn't speaking to join up in it. He wasn't seeking to partake of it. He wasn't taken up with his entertainment. He wasn't enraptured with his scientific achievement.
He wasn't enthralled with the advances of commerce and how he could prosper in that world, he prophesied.
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Saying the Lord cometh with 10 thousands of his Saints to execute judgment.
All he what he did by his walk of faith was to put the stamp on the world.
That is all reserved unto judgment.
Reserved under fire in the judgment of the great beloved young people. Notice one other thing before we stop.
It has struck one's own soul, and there may be other reasons for it. I don't limit the Word of God. There may be other reasons for this. But it has struck me very much that when I read the history of the first family in the 4th chapter, nothing is said about the ages of the people involved. We don't know how old Kane was, we don't know how old his son was, when he had a son, and so on. Nothing's told us about that.
Come to the fifth chapter and you find the family of Faith presented.
All God tells us exactly how long each life was when each one in that family of faith pictured to us was born, and all how that has struck one's own soul. To realize, dear young people, that when God used a family of faith, when He used you as a child of God, He would say to your heart and mind, the hairs of your head are all numbered.
I just had occasion, no sound humorous. I don't mean it that way.
But I went into a Barber shop.
In Pensacola just a few days ago.
The Place